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.1* 

THE MULE. 



A TREATISE 



BREEDING, TEAINIXG, AND USES, 



TO ■n'llIOH 



HE MAT BE PUT, 



HARVEY RILEY, 



SUPEBtNTENDENT OF THE GOVEEXMEXT COUEAL, WASIIINGTOK, D. C. 



NEW YORK: 
DICK & FITZGERALD, PUBLISHERS, 

18 ANN STREET. 

1867. 

\ 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1S67, 

By dick & FITZGERALD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 

Southern District of New York. 



PEEFAOE. 

There is no more useful or willing animal than the 
IVIule. And perhaps there is no other animal so much 
abused, or so little cared for. Popular opinion of his 
nature has not been favorable ; and he has had to plod 
and work through life against the prejudices of the 
ignorant. Still, he has been the great friend of man, 
in war and in peace serving him well and faithftillj. 
If he could tell man what he most needed it would be 
kind treatment. We all know how much can be done 
to improve the condition and ad stance the comfort of 
this animal ; and he is a true friend of humanity who 
does what he can for his benefit. My object in 
writing this book was to do what I could toward work- 
ing out a much needed reform in the breeding, care, and 
treatment of these animals. Let me ask that what I 
have said in regard to the value of kind treatment be 
carefully read and followed. I have had thirty years' 
[experience in the uhc of this animal, and during that 



time have made liis nature a study. The result of that 
study is, that humanity as well as economy will be best 
served by kindness. 

It has indeed seemed to me that the Government 
might make a great saving every year by employing 
only such teamsters and wagon-masters as had been 
thoroughly instructed in the treatment and management 
of animals, and were in every way qualified to perform 
their duties properly. Indeed, it would seem only rea- 
sonable not to trust a man with a valuable team of 
animals, or perhaps a train, until he had been thoroughly 
instructed in their use, and had received a certificate of 
capacity from the Quartermaster's Department. If this 
were done, it would go far to establish a system that 
would check that great destruction of animal life which 
costs the Government so heavy a sum every year. 

H. K. 

Washingtox, D. C, April 12, 1867. 



OOS'TENTS. 



Paob 

Best Method of Breaking 9 

Value of Kind Treatment 11 

How to Harness 15 

Injured by "Working too Young 18 

What the Mule can Endure 20 

Color and Peculiar Habits 24 

Mexican Mules, and Packing 29 

The Agricultural Committee 36 

Working Condition of Mules 41 

Spotted Mules 42 

Mule-Breeding and Raising 44 

How Colts should be Handled 45 

Packing Mules 48 

Physical Constitution 54 

Value of Harnessing Properly 56 

Government Wagons 62 

More about Breeding Mules 66 

Ancient History of the Mule 69 

Table of Statistics 71 

14 Portraits of Celebrated Mules 72 

Diseases Common to tlie Mule, and liow they should be treated. ... 80 



NOTE. 

I HAVE, in another part of this work, spoken of the mule as being free 
from splint. Perhaps I should have said that I had never seen one that 
had it, notwithstanding the number I have had to do with. There are, 
I know, persons who assert that they have seen mules that had it. I 
ought to mention here, also, by way of correction, that there is another 
ailment the mule does not have in common with the horse, and that is 
quarter-crack. The same cause that keeps them from having quarter- 
crack preserves them from sphnt — ^the want of front action. 

A great many persons insist that a mule has no marrow in the bones 
of his legs. This is a very singular error. The bone of the mule's leg 
has a cavity, and is as well filled with marrow as the horse's. It also 
varies in just the same proportion as in the horse's leg. The feet of 
some mules, however, will crack and spUt, but in most cases it is the 
result of bad shoeing. It at times occurs from a lack of moisture to 
the foot ; and is seen among mules used in cities, where there are no 
facilities for driving them into running water every day, to soften the 
feet and keep them moist. 



CHAPTEE I. 



HOW MTJLES SHOULD BE TREATED IN BSEAKING-. 

I HAVE long had it in contemplation to write some- 
thing concerning the mule, in the hope that it might be 
of benefit to those who had to deal with him, as well 
in as out of the army, and make them better acquainted 
with his habits and usefulness. The j)atient, plodding 
mule is indeed an animal that has served us well in the 
army, and done a great amount of good for humanity 
during the late war. He was in truth a necessity to 
the army and tlie Government, and perfornied a most 
important part in supplying our army in the field. That 
he will perform an equally important part in the future 
movements of our army is equally clear, and should not 
be lost sight of by the Government. It has seemed to 
me somewhat strange, then, that so little should have 
been written concerning him, and so little pains taken 
to improve his quality. I have noticed in the army 
that those who had most to do with him were the least 
acquainted with his habits, and took the least pains to 
study his disposition, or to ascertain by proper means 
how he could be made the most useful. The Govern- 
ment might have saved hundreds of thousands of dol- 



8 THE MULE. 

lars, if, when the war began, there had been a proper 
understanding of this aiiimal among its employees. 

Probably no animal has been the subject of more 
cruel and brutal treatment than the mule, and it is safe 
to say that no animal ever performed liis part better, 
not even the horse. In breaking the mule, most per- 
sons are apt to get out of patience with him. I have 
got out of patience with him myself. But patience is 
the great essential in breaking, and in the use of it you 
will lind that you get along much better. The mule 
is an unnatural animal, and hence more timid of man 
than the horse ; and yet lie is tractable, and capable of 
being tauglit to understand what you want him to do. 
And when he understands what you want, and has 
gained your confidence, you will, if you treat him 
kindly, have little trouble in making him perform his 
duty. 

In commencing to break the mule, take hold of him 
gently, and talk to him kindly. Don't spring at him, 
as if he were a tiger you were in dread of. Don't yell 
at him ; don't jerk him ; don't strike him with a club, 
as is too often done ; don't get excited at his jumping 
and kicking. Approach and handle him the same as 
you would an animal already broken, and through 
kindness you will, in less than a week, have your mule 
more tractable, better broken, and kinder than you 
would in a month, had you used the whip. Mules, 
with very few exceptions, are bom kickers. Breed 
them as you will, the moment they are able to stand 
up, and you put your hand on them, they will kick. It 
is, indeed, their natural means of defence, and they 



THE MULE. 9 

resort to it through the force of instinct. In com- 
mencing to break them, then, kicking is the first thing 
to guard against and overcome. The young mule kicks 
because he is afraid of a man. He has seen those in- 
trusted with their care beat and abuse the older ones, 
and he very naturally fears the same treatment as soon 
as a man approaches him. Most persons intrusted with 
the care of these young and green mules have not liad 
experience enough with them to know that this defect 
of kicking is soonest remedied by kind treatment. 
Careful study of the animal's nature and long experi- 
ence with the animal have taught me that, in breaking 
the mule, whipping and harsh treatment almost invaria- 
bly make him a worse kicker. They certainly make him 
more timid and afraid of you. And just as long as you 
fight a young mule and keep him afraid of you, just so 
long will you be in danger of his kicking you. You 
must convince him through kindness that you are not 
going to hurt or punish him. And the sooner you do 
this, the sooner you are out of danger from his feet. 

It may at times become necessary to correct the mule 
before he is subdued ; but before doing so he should be 
well bridle or halter-broken, and also used to harness. 
He should also be made to know what you are whip- 
ping him for. In harnessing up a mule that will kick 
or strike with the forefeet, get a rope, or, as we term it 
in the army, a lariat. Throw, or put the noose of this 
over his head, taking care at the same time that it be 
done so that the noose does not choke him ; thim get 
the mule on the near side of a wagon, put the end of 
the lai'iat tlirough the space between the spokes of the 



10 THE MULE. 

fore wheel, then pull the end through so that jou can 
walk back with it to the hinder wheel (taking care to 
keep it tight), then pass it through the same, and pull 
the mule close to the wagon. In this position jou can 
bridle and harness him without fear of being crippled. 
In putting the rope through the above places, it should 
be put through the wheels, so as to bring it as high as 
the mule's breast in front, and flanks in the rear. In 
making them fast in this way, they frequently kick 
until they get over the rope, or lariat ; hence the neces- 
sity of keeping it as high up as possible. If you chance 
upon a mule so wild that you cannot handle him in this 
w^ay, put a noose of the lariat in the mule's mouth, 
and let the eye, or the part where you put the end of 
the lariat through, be so as to form another noose. Set 
this directly at the root of the nmle's ear, pull it tight 
on him, taking care to keep the noose in the same 
place. But when you get it pulled tight enough, let 
some one hold the end of the lariat, and, my word for 
it, you will bridle the mule without much further 
trouble. 

In hitching the mule to a wagon, if he be wild or 
vicious, keep the lariat the same as I have described 
until you get him hitched up, then slack it gently, as 
nearly all mules will buck or jump stiff-legged as soon 
as you ease up the lariat; and be careful not to pull 
the rope too tight when first put on, as by so doing you 
might split the mule's mouth. Let me say here that I 
have broken thousands of four and six-mule teams that 
not one of the animals had ever had a strap of harness 
on when I began with them, and I have driven six- 



THE :injLE. 11 

mule teams for years on the frontier, but I have yet to 
see the first team of unbroken mules that could be 
driven with any degree of certainty. I do not mean to 
say that they cannot be got along the road ; but I 
regard it no driving worthy of the name when a driver 
cannot get his team to any place where he may desire 
to go in a reasonable time — and this he cannot do 
with unbroken mules. With green or unbroken mules, 
you must chase or herd them along without the whip, 
until you get them to know that you want them to pull 
in a wagon. "When you have got them in a wagon, 
pull their heads round in the direction you want them 
to go ; then convince them by your kindness that you 
are not going to abuse them, and in twelve days' care- 
ful handling you will be able to drive them any way 
you please. 

In bridling the young mule, it is necessary to have a 
bit that will not injure the animal's mouth. Hundreds 
of mules belonging to the Government are, in a measure, 
ruined by using a bridle bit that is not much thicker 
than the wire used by the telegraph. I do not meau 
by this that the bridle bit used by the Government in 
its blind bridles is not well adapted to the purpose. 
If properly made and properly used, it is. I^or do 
I think any board of officers could have gotten up or 
devised a better harness and wagon for army purposes 
than those made in conformity witli the decision of the 
board of officers that recommended the harness and 
wagon now used. The trouble with a great many of 
tlie bits is, that they are not made up to the regulations, 
and are too thin. And this bit, when the animal's 



12 THE MULE. 

head is reined u]) too tight, as army teamsters are very 
likely to do, is sure to work a sore mouth. 

There are few things in breaking the mule that 
should be so carefully guarded against as this. For as 
soon as the animal gets a sore mouth, he cannot eat 
well, and becomes fretful ; then he cannot drink well, 
and as his mouth keeps splitting up on the sides, he 
soon gets so that he cannot keep water in it, and 
every swallow he attempts to take, the water will spirt 
out of the sides, just above the bit. As soon as the 
mule finds that he cannot drink without this trouble, 
he very naturally pushes his nose into the water above 
where his mouth is split, and drinks until the want of 
breath forces him to stop, although he has not had suf- 
ficient water. The animal, of course, throws up its 
head, and the stupid teamster, as a general thing, drives 
the mule away from the water with his thirst about 
half satisfied. 

Mules with their mouths split in this way are not fit 
to be used in the teams, and the sooner they are taken 
out and cured the better for the army and the Govern- 
ment. I have frequently seen Government trains de- 
tained several minutes, block the road, and throw the 
train into disorder, in order to give a mule with a split 
mouth time to drink. In making up teams for a train, 
I invariably leave out all mules whose mouths are not 
in a sound state, and this I do without regard to the 
kind or quality of the animal. But the mule's mouth 
can be saved from the condition I have referred to, 
if the bit be made in a proper manner. 

The bit should be one inch and s^ven-eighths round, 



THE I-IULE. 13 

and five inches in the draw, or between the rings. It 
should also have a sweep of one quarter of an inch to 
the five inches long. I refer now to the bit for the 
blind bridle. With a bit of this kind it is almost 
impossible to injure the mule's mouth, unless he is very 
young, and it cannot be done then if the animal is 
handled with proper care. 

There is another matter in regard to harnessing the 
mule which I deem worthy of notice here. Govern- 
ment teamsters, as a general thing, like to see a mule's 
head reined tightly up. I confess that, with all my 
experience, I have never seen the benefit there was to 
be derived from this. I always found that the mule 
worked better when allowed to carry his head and neck 
in a natural position. When not reined up at all, he 
will do more work, out-pull, and wear out the one 
that is. At present, nearly all the Government mule- 
teams are reined up, and worked with a single rein. 
This is the old Virginia way of driving mules. It 
used to be said that any negro knew enough to drive 
mules. I fear the Government has too long acted on 
that idea. 

I never heard but one reason given for reining the 
heads of a mule-team up tight, and that was, that it 
made the animals look better. 

The next thing requiring particular attention is the 
harnessing. Daring the war it became customary to 
cnt the drawing-chains, or, as some call them, the trace- 
chains. The object of this was, to bring the mule close 
up to his work. The theory was taken from the strings 



14 THE MULE. 

of horses used in drawing railroad cars througli cities. 
Horses that are used for hauling cars in this manner 
are generally fed morning, noon, and night ; and are 
able to get out of the way of a swingle-tree, should it be 
let down so low as to work on the brakes, as it did too 
frequently in the army. Besides, the coupling of the 
car, or the part they attach the horse to, is two-thirds 
the height of a common-sized animal, which, it will be 
seen at a glance, is enough to keep the swingle-tree oiF 
his heels. IS'ow, the tongue of a Government wagon is 
a very difierent thing. In its proper condition, it is 
about on an average height with the mule's hocks ; and, 
especially during the last two years of the war, it was 
customary to pull the mule so close up to the swingle-tree 
that his hocks would touch it. The result of hitching 
in this manner is, that the mule is continually try- 
ing to keep out of the way of the swingle-tree, and, 
finding that he cannot succeed, he becomes discouraged. 
And as soon as he does this he will lag behind ; and as 
he gets sore from this continual banging, he will spread 
his hind legs and try to avoid the blows; and, in doing 
this, he forgets his business and becomes irritable. This 
excites the teamster, and, in ninety-nine cases out of a 
hundred, he will beat and punish the animal cruelly, 
expecting thereby to cure him of the trouble. But, 
instead of pacifying the mule, he will only make him 
worse, which should, under no circumstances, be done. 
The proper course to pursue, and I say so from long 
experience, is to stop the team at once, and let all the 
traces out to a length that will allow the swiugle-tree 
to swing half way between the hock and the heel of 



TEE MTJLE. 25 

the hoof. In other words, give him room enough to 
step, between the collar and swingle-tree, so that the 
swingle-tree cannot touch his legs when walking at his 
longest stride. If the above rule be followed, the 
animal will not be apt to touch the swingle-tree. 
Indeed, it will not be apt to touch him, unless he be 
lazy ; and, in that case, the sooner you get another 
mule the better. I say this because one lazy mule will 
spoil a good team, invariably. A lazy mule can be 
kept up to his work with a whip, you will say ; but, in 
whipping a lazy animal, you keep the others in such a 
state of excitement that they are certain to get poor 
and valueless. 

There is another advantage in having the drawing- 
chains worked at the length I have described. It is 
this : The officers that formed the board that recom- 
mended the drawing-chain, also recommended a 
number of large links on one end of the chain, so 
that it could be made longer or shorter, as desired. 
K made in conformity with the recommendation of 
that board of officers, it can be let out so as to fit the 
largest sized mule, and can be taken up to fit the short- 
est. When I say this, I mean to include such animals 
as are received according to the standard of the Quarter- 
master-General's department. 



CHAPTEE II. 



THE DISADVANTAGES OF WOKKING MULES THAT AEE TOO 
YOUNG. 

A GREAT many of the mules purchased by the Govern- 
ment during the war were entirely too young for use. 
This was particularly so in the West, where both con- 
tractor and inspector seemed anxious only to get the 
greatest number they could on the hands of the Govern- 
ment, witliout respect to age or quality. I have 
harnessed, or rather tried to harness, mules during the 
war, that were so young and small that you could 
not get collars small enough to fit them. As to the 
liarness, they were almost buried in it. A great many 
of these small mules were but two years old. These 
animals were of no use to the Government for a long 
time. Indeed, the inspector might just as well have 
given his certificate for a lot of milk cows, so far as 
they added to our force of transportation. Another 
source of trouble has been caused through a mistaken 
opinion as to what a young mule could do, and how he 
ought to be fed. Employers and others, who had young 
mules under their charge during the war, had, as a 
general thing, surplus forage on hand. When they 
were in a place where nine pounds of grain could be 



THE MULE. 17 

procured, and fourteen of hay, the full allowance was 
purchased. The surplus resulting from this attracted 
notice, and many wondered why it was that the Govern- 
ment did not reduce the forage on the mule. These 
persons did not for a moment suspect, or imagine, that 
a three year old mule has so many loose teeth in his 
mouth as to be hardly able to crack a grain of com, 
or masticate his oats. 

Another point in that case is this : at three years old, 
a mule is in a worse condition, generally, than he is at 
any other period in life. At three, he is more subject 
to distemper, sore eyes, and inflammation of all parts of 
the head and body. He becomes quite weak from not 
being able to eat, gets loose and gaunt, and is at that 
time more subject and more apt to take contagious 
diseases than at any other change he may go througli. 
There is but one sure way to remedy this evil. Do not 
buy three year old mules to put to work that it requires 
a five or six year old mule to perform. Six three year 
old mules are just about as fit to travel fifteen miles per 
day, with an army wagon loaded with twenty-five hun- 
dred and their forage, as a boy, six years of age, is fit to 
do a man's work. During the first twelve months of 
the war, I had charge of one hundred and six mule- 
teams, and I noticed in particular, that not one solitary 
mule as high as six years old gave out on the trips that 
I made with the teams. I also noticed that, on most 
occasions, the three year olds gave out, or became so leg- 
weary that they could scarce walk out of the way of the 
swingle-tree, whereas those of four and upward would 
be briorht and brisk, and able to eat their forage when 



18 THE MULE. 

tliey came to camp. The three year old mules would 
lie down and not eat a bite, through sheer exhaustion. 
I also noticed that nearly all the three year old mules 
that went to Utah, in 1857, froze to death that winter, 
while those whose ages varied from four, and up to ten, 
stood the winter and came out in the spring in good 
working condition. In August, 1855, I drove a six- 
mule team to Fort Hiley, in Kansas Territory, from 
Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri Kiver, loaded with 
twelve sacks of grain. It took us thirteen days to make 
the trip. "When we reached Fort Riley there were 
not fifty mules, in the train of one hundred and fifty, 
that would have sold at public sale for thirty dollars, 
and a great many gave out on account of being too 
young and the want of proper treatment. In the fall 
of 1860, I drove a six-mule team, loaded with thirty 
hundred weight, twenty-five days' rations for myself and 
another man, and twelve days' forage for the team, 
being allowed twelve pounds to each mule per day. I 
drove this team to Fort Laramie, in Nebraska Territory, 
and from there to Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri 
River. I made the drive there and back in thirty-eight 
days, and laid over two and a half days out of that. 
The distance travelled was twelve hundred and thirty- 
six miles. After a rest of two days, I started with the 
same team, and drove to Fort Scott, in Kansas Terri- 
tory, in five days, a distance of one hundred and twenty 
miles. I went with Harney's command, and, for the 
most part of the time, had no hay, and was forced to 
subsist our animals on dry prairie grass, and had a 
poor supply of even that. Notwithstanding this, I do 



THE MULE. . 19 

not "believe that any mule in the team lost as much as 
ten pounds of flesh. Each of these mules, let me say, 
was upward of five years old. 

In 1858, 1 took a train of mules to Camp Floyd, in 
Utah, forty-eight miles south of Salt Lake City. 
During the march there were days and nights that 
I could not get a drop of water for the animals. 
The young mules, three and four years old, gave out 
from sheer exhaustion ; while the older ones kept up, 
and had to draw the wagons along. J^ow, there are 
many purposes to which a young mule may be put with 
advantage ; but they are altogether unfit for army 
purposes, and the sooner the Government stops using 
them, the better. 

When they are purchased for army use, they are al- 
most sure to be put into a train, and turned over to the 
tender mercies of some teamster, who knows nothing 
whatever about the character of the animal. And here 
let me say that thousands of the best mules in the army, 
during the war, were ruined and made useless to the Gov- 
ernment on account of the incompetency and ignorance 
of the wagon-masters and teamsters who had to deal 
with them. Persons who own private teams and horses 
are generally particular to know the character of the per- 
son who takes care of them, and to ascertain that he 
knows his business. Is he a good driver ? Is he a good 
groom ? Is he careful in feeding and watering ? These 
are the questions that are asked ; and if he has not these 
qualities he will not do. But a teamster in the army has 
none of these questions put to him, No ; he is intrusted 
with a valuable team, and expected to take proper care 



20 THE MULE. 

of it. when lie lias not the first qualification to do so. 
If he is asked a question at all, it is merely if he has 
ever driven a team before. If he answer in the affirma- 
tive, and there are any vacancies, he is employed at 
once, though he may not know how to lead a mule by 
the head properly. This is not alone the case with 
teamsters. I have known wagon-masters who really 
did not know how to straighten out a six-mule team, 
or, indeed, put the harness on them properly. And yet 
the wagon-master has almost complete power over the 
train. It will be readily seen from this, how much 
valuable property may be destroyed by placing incom- 
petent men in such places. Wagon-masters, it seems 
to me, should not be allowed, under any circumstances, 
to have or take charge of a train of animals of any kind 
until they are thoroughly competent to handle, harness, 
and drive a six-animal team. 

There is another matter which needs essential im- 
provement. I refer now to the men who are placed 
as superintendents over our Government corrals and 
depots for animals. Many of these men know little of 
either the horse or the mule, and are almost entirely 
ignorant of what is necessary for transportation. A 
superintendent should have a thorough knowledge of 
the character and capacity of all kinds of animals neces- 
sary for a good team. He should know at sight the age 
and weight of animals, should be able to tell the most' 
suitable place for difierent animals in a team, and where 
each would be of the most service. He should know 
all parts of his wagon and harness at a glance, be 
able to take each portion apart and put them together 



THE MULE. 21 

again, each in its proper shape and place, and, above 
all, he should have practical experience with all kinds 
of animals that are used in the army. This is especially 
necessary during war. 



CHAPTEK III. 



COLOE, CHARACTER, AND PECULIARITIES OF MULES. 

After being in command of the upper corral, I was 
ordered, on the 7tli of September, 1864, to take charge 
of the Eastern Branch Wagon Park, Washington. 
There were at that time in the park twenty-one six- 
mule trains. Each train had one hundred and fifty 
mules and two horses attached. There were times, 
however, when we had as many as forty-two trains of 
six-mule teams, with thirty men attached to each 
train. In a year from the above date we handled up- 
ward of seventy-four thousand mules, each and every 
one passing under my inspection and through my 
hands. 

In handling this large number of animals, I aimed to 
ascertain which was the best, the hardest, and the most 
durable color for a mule. I did this because great im- 
portance has been attached by many to the color of 
tiiese animals. Indeed, some of our officers have made 
it a distinguishing feature. But color, I am satisfied, is 
no criterion to judge by. There is an exception to this, 
perhaps, in the cream-colored mule. In most cases, these 
cream-colored mules are apt to be soft, and they also 
lack strength. This is particularly so with those that 



THE :mtjle. 23 

take after the mare, and have manes and tails of the 
same color. Those that take after the jack generally 
have black stripes round their legs, black manes and 
tails, and black stripes down their backs and across their 
shoulders, and are more hardy and better animals. I 
have frequently seen men, in purchasing a lot of mules, 
select those of a certain color, fancying that they were the 
hardiest, and yet the animals would be widely different 
in their working qualities. You may take a black 
mule, black mane, black hair in his ears, black at the 
flank, between the hips or thighs, and black under the 
belly, and put him alongside of a similar sized mule, 
marked as I have described above, say light, or what is 
called mealy-colored, on each of the above-mentioned 
parts, put them in the same condition and flesh, of 
similar age and soundness, and, in many cases, the mule 
with the light-colored parts will wear the other out. 

It is very different with the white mule. He is gen- 
erally soft, and can stand but little hardship. I refer 
particularly to tliose that have a white skin. ]!^ext to 
the white and cream, we have the iron-grey mule. This 
color generally indicates a hardy mule. We have now 
twelve teams of iron-gray mules in the park, which 
have been doing hard work every day since July, 1865 ; 
it is now January, 1866. Only one of these mules has 
become unfit for service, and tliat one was injured by 
being kicked by his mate. All our other teams have 
had more or less animals made unfit for service and 
exchanged. 

In speaking of the color of mules, it must not be 
inferred that there are no mules that are all of a color 



24 THE MTJLE. 

that are not hardy and capable of endurance. I have 
Iiad some, whose color did not vary from head to foot, 
that were capable of great endurance. But in most 
cases, if kept steadily at work from the time they were 
three years old until they were eight or ten, they gener- 
ally gave out in some part, and became an expense 
instead of profit. 

Yarious opinions are held as to what the mule can be 
made to do under tlie saddle, many persons asserting 
that in crossing the plains he can be made to perform 
almost equal to the horse. This is true on the prairie. 
But there he works with every advantage over the 
horse. In 1858, I rode a mule from Cedar Yalley, 
forty-eight miles north of Salt Lake City, to Fort 
Leavenworth, Kansas, a distance of nearly fourteen 
hundred miles. Starting from Cedar Valley on the 
22d of October, I reached Fort Leavenworth on the 
31st of December. At the end of the journey the ani- 
mal was completely worn down. 

In this condition I put her into Fleming's livery sta- 
ble, in Leavenworth City, and was asked if she was 
perfectly gentle. One would suppose that, in such a 
condition, she would naturally be so. I assured the 
hostler that she was ; that I had ridden her nearly a 
year, and never knew her to kick. That same morning, 
when the hostler went to feed her, she suddenly became 
vicious, and kicked him very severely. She was then 
about twelve years old. I have since thought that 
when a mule gets perfectly gentle he is unfit for service. 

Proprietors of omnibuses, stage lines, and city rail- 
roads have, in many cases, tried to work mules, as a 



THE MULE. 26^ 

matter of economy ; but, as a general thing, the experi- 
ment proved a failure, and they gave it up and returned 
to horses. The great reason for this failure was, that 
the persons placed in charge of them knew nothing of 
their disposition, and lacked that experience in handling 
them which is so necessary to success. But it must be 
admitted that, as a general thing, they are not well 
adapted for road or city purposes, no matter how much 
you may understand driving and handling them. 

The mule may be made to do good service on the 
prairies, in supplying our army, in towing canal boats, 
in hauling cars inside of coal mines — these are his 
proper places, where he can jog along and take his own 
time, patiently. Work of this kind would, however, 
in nearly all cases, break down the spirit of the horse, 
and render him useless in a very short time. 

I have seen it asserted that there were mules that 
had been known to trot in harness in three minutes. 
In all my experience, I have never seen any thing of the 
kind, and do not believe the mule ever existed that could 
do it. It is a remarkably good road horse that will do 
this, and I have never yet seen a mule that could com- 
pare for speed with a good roadster. I have driven 
mules, single and double, night and day, from tvv^o to 
ten in a team, and have handled them in every way 
that it is possible to handle them, and have in my charge 
at this time two hundred of the best mule teams in the 
world, and there is not a span among them that could 
be forced over the road in four minutes. It is true of 
the mule that he will stand more abuse, more beating, 
more straining and constant dogging at him than any 



26 THE MULE. 

otlier animal used in a team. But all the work you can , 
get out of bim, over and above an ordinary day's work/ 
you have to work as bard as be does to accomplish. 

Some curious facts have come under my knowledge 
as to what the mule can endure. These facts also 
illustrate what can be done with the animal by persons 
thoroughly acquainted with his character. While on 
the plains, I have known Kiowa and Camanche Indians 
to break into our pickets during the night, and steal 
mules that had been pronounced completely broken 
down by white men. And these mules they have rid- 
den sixty and sixty-five miles of a single night. How 
these Indians managed to do this, I never could tell. I 
have repeatedly seen Mexicans mount mules that our 
men had pronounced unfit for further service, and ride 
them twenty and twenty-five miles without stopping. 
I do not mention this to show that a Mexican can do 
more with the mule than an American. He cannot. 
And yet there seems to be some sort of fellow-feeling 
between these Mexicans and the mule. One seems to 
understand the other completely ; and in disposition 
there is very little difference. And yet the Mexican is 
so brutish in dealing with animals, that I never allowed 
one of them to drive a Government team for me. In- 
deed, a low Mexican does not seem disposed to work 
for a man who will not allow him full latitude in the 
abuse of animals. 

PacJcing Mules. — The Mexican is a better packer 
than the American. He has had more experience, and 
understands all its details better than any other man. 
Some of our United States officers have tried to im- 



THE MULE. 27 

prove on tlie experience of tlie Greaser, and have raade 
what the J called an improvement on the Mexican pack- 
saddle. But all the attempts at improvement have 
been utter failures. The ranchero, on the Pacific side 
of the Sierra Nevadas, is also a good packer ; and he 
can beat the Mexican lassoing cattle. But he is the 
only man in the United States who can. The reason 
for this is, that they went into that country when very 
young, and improved on the Mexican, by having cattle, 
mules, and horses round them all the time, and being 
continually catching them for the purpose of branding 
and marking. 

There is, in Old as well as 'New Mexico, a class of 
mules that are known to us as Spanish, or Mexican 
mules. These mules are not large, but for endurance 
they are very superior, and, in my opinion, cannot be 
excelled. I am not saying too much when I assert, 
that I have seen nothing in the United States that could 
compare with them. They can, apparently, stand any 
amount of starvation and abuse. I have had three 
Spanish mules in a train of twenty-five six-mule teams, 
and starting from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on 
Colonel (since General) Sumner's expedition, in 1857, 
have travelled to Walnut Creek, on the Santa Fe 
route, a distance of three hundred miles, in nine days. | 
And this in the month of August. The usual effects ; 
of hard driving, I noticed, showed but very little on | 
them. I noticed also, along the march, that with a halt 
of less than three hours, feeding on grass that was only 
tolerably thick, they will fill up better and look in bet- 
ter condition for resuming the march, than one of our 



28 THE MULE. 

American mules that had rested five hours, and had 
the same forage. The breed, of course, has something 
to do with this. But the animal is smaller, more com- 
pact than our mules, and, of course, it takes less to fill 
him up. It stands to reason, that a mule with a body 
half as large as a hogshead cannot satisfy his hunger 
in the time it would take a small one. This is the 
secret of small mules outlasting large ones on the 
prairies. It takes the large one so long to find enough 
to eat, when the grass is scanty, that he has not time 
enough for rest and recuperation. 1 often found them 
leaving camp, in the morning, quite as hungry and dis- 
couraged as they were when we halted the previous 
evening. With the small mule it is difierent. He gets 
enough to eat, quick, and has time to rest and refresh 
himself. The Spanish or Mexican mule, however, is 
better as a pack animal, than for a team. They are 
vicious, hard to break, and two-thirds of them kick. 

In looking over a book, with the title of " Domestic 
Animals," I notice that the author, Mr. R. L. Allen, 
has copied from the official report of the Agricultural 
Committee of South Carolina, and asserts that a mule 
is fit for service sooner than a horse. This is not true ; 
and to prove that it is not, I will give what I consider 
to be ample proof. In the first place, a mule at three 
years old is just as much and even more of a colt than 
a horse is. And he is as much out of condition, on ac- 
count of cutting teeth, distemper, and other colt ail- 
ments, as it is possible to be. Get a three year old mule 
tired and fatigued, and in nine cases out of ten he will 
get so discouraged that it will be next to impossible to 



THE MTJLE. 45 

halter and bridle-break tbem properly ; and I Lave 
seen hundreds of mules, in the City of Washington, 
totally ruined by tying them up behind wagons while 
young, and literally dragging them through the streets. 
These mules had never, perhaps, had a halter on be- 
fore. I have seen them, while tied in this manner, 
jump back, throw themselves down, and be dragged on 
the ground until they were nearly dead. And what is 
worse, the teamster invariably seeks to remedy this by 
beatinoj them. In most cases, the teamster would see 
/them dragged to death before he would give them a 
!^ielping hand. If he knew how to apply a proper 
I'lemedy, very likely he would not give himself the 
trouble to apply it. I have never been able to find 
d'Ut how this pernicious habit of tying mules behind 
Wagons originated ; but the sooner an order is issued 
putting a stop to it, the better, for it is nothing less 
than a costly torture. The mule, more than any other 
animal, wants to see where he is going. He cannot do 
this at the tail of an army wagon, though it is an ex- 
cellent plan for him to get his head bruised or his 
brains knocked out. 

Some persons charge it as an habitual vice with the 
mule to pull back. I have seen horses contract that 
vice, and continue it until they killed themselves. 
But, in all my experience with the mule, I never saw 
one in which it was a settled vice. ' During the time I 
had charge of the receiving and issuing of horses to the 
army, I had a great many horses injured seriously by 
this vice of pulling back. Some of these horses became 
so badly injured in the spine that I had to send them 



46 THE MULE. 

to the hospital, then under the charge of Dr. L. H. 
Braley. Some were so badly injured that they died in 
fits ; others were cured. Even when the mule gets his 
neck sore, he will endure it like the ox, and instead 
of pulling back, as the horse will, he will come right up 
for the purpose of easing it. They do not, as some 
suppose, do this because of their sore, but because they 
are not sensitive like the horse. 

Packing Mules. — In looking over a copy of Mason's 
Farrier, or Stud Book, by Mr. Skinner, I find it stated 
that a mule is capable of packing six or eight hundred 
pounds. Mr. Skinner has evidently never packed 
mules, or he would not have made so erroneous a state- 
ment. I have been in all our Northern and Western 
Territories, in Old and ]N'ew Mexico, where nearly all 
the business is done by pack animals, mules, and asses ; 
and I have also been among the tribes of Indians bor- 
dering on the Mexican States, where they have to a great 
extent adopted the Spanish method of packing, and yet 
I never saw an instance when a mule could be packed 
six or eight hundred pounds. Indeed, the people in 
these countries would ridicule such an assertion. And 
here I purpose to give the result of my own experience 
in packing, together with that of several others who 
have long followed the business. 

I also purpose to say something on what I consider 
the best mode of packing, the weight suitable for each 
animal, and the relative gain or loss that might result 
from this method of transportation, as compared with 
transportation by wagon. In the first place, packing 
ought never to be resorted to, because it cannot be done 



THE MULE. 47 

witli profit, where the roads are good and wagons and 
animals are to be had. In mountains, over deserts 
and plains of sand, where forage is scant, and water 
only to be had at long intervals, then the pack is a 
necessity, and can be used with profit. Let it be under- 
stood, also, that in packing, the Spanish pack-mule, as 
as well as saddle, is the most suitable. Second : The 
Spanish method of packing is, above all others, the most 
ancient, the best and most economical. "With it the 
animal can carry a heavier burden with less injury to 
himself. Third : The weight to be packed, under ever 
so favorable circumstances, should never be over four 
hundred and fifty pounds. Fourth : The American 
pack-saddle is a worthless thing, and should never be 
used when any considerable amount of weight is re- 
quired to be packed. 

If I had previously entertained any doubt in regard 
to this American pack-saddle, it was removed by what 
came under my observation three years ago. "While 
employed in the quartermasters' depot, at Washington, 
D. C.,as superintendent of the General Hospital Stables, 
we at one time received three hundred mules, on which 
the experiment of packing with this saddle had been 
tried in the Army of the Potomac. It was said this was 
one of General Butterfield's experiments. These animals 
presented no evidence of being packed more than 
once ; but such was the terrible condition of their backs 
that the whole number required to be placed at once 
under medical treatment. Officers of the army who 
knew Dr. Braley, know how invariably successful he 
has been in the treatment of Government animals, and 



'48 THE MULE. 

Low carefully he treat3 them. Yet, in spite of all his 
skill, and with the best of shelter, fifteen of these ani- 
mals died from mortification of their wounds and inju- 
ries of the spine. The remainder were a very long time 
in recovering, and when they did, their backs, in many 
cases, were scarred in such a manner as to render them 
unfit ever after for being used for a similar purpose. 
The use of the American pack-saddle, and lack of 
knowledge on the part of those in charge as to what 
mules were suitable for packing, did this. The experi- 
enced packer would have seen at a glance that a large 
portion of these nmles were utterly unfit for the busi- 
ness. The experiment was a wretched failure, but cost 
the Government some thousands of dollars. 

I ought to mention, however, that the class of mules 
on which this experiment was tried were loose, leggy 
animals, such as I have heretofore described as being 
almost unfit for any branch of Government service. 
But, by all means, let the GovemmenC abandon the 
American pack-saddle until some further improvements 
are made in it. 

E'ow, as to the weight a mule can pack. I have seen 
the Delaware Indians, with all their efiects packed on 
mules, going out on a bufialo hunt. I have seen the 
Potawatamies, the Kickapoos, the Pawnees, the Che- 
yennes, Pi-Ute, Sioux, Arapahoes, and indeed almost 
every tribe that use mules, pack them to the very 
extent of their strength, and never yet saw the mule 
that could pack what Mr. Skinner asserts. More than 
that, I assert here that you cannot find a mule that will 
pack even four hundred pounds, and keep his condition 



THE MULE. 29 

get him home or into camp. A horse colt, if able to 
travel at all, will work his way home cheerfully ; but 
the young mule will sulk, and in many instances will 
not move an inch while life lasts. An honest horse will 
try to help himself, and do all he can for you, especially 
if you treat him kindly. The mule colt will, just as 
likely as not, do all he can to make it inconvenient for 
you and him. 

To show of how little service three year old mules 
are to the Government, I will give the number handled 
by me during part of 1864: and 1865. 

On the 1st of September, 1864, 1 had charge of five thou- 
sand and eighty-two mules ; and during the same month 
I received two thousand two hundred and ten, and issued 
to the Armies of the Potomac, the James, and the Shen- 
andoah, three thousand five hundred and seventy-one, 
wliich left us on hand, on the 1st of October, three 
thousand seven hundred and twenty-one. During the 
month of October we received only nine hundred and 
eighty, and issued two thousand five hundred and thirty, 
which left us on hand, on the 1st of ]N"ovember, two 
thousand one hundred and seventy-one. During No- 
vember we received two thousand one hundred and 
eighty-six, and issued to the army one thousand seven 
hundred and fifty-seven, which left us on hand, on the 
1st of December, two thousand four hundred and thirty 
mules. JS^ow mark the deaths. 

During the month of September, 1864, there died in 
the corral fifteen mules. In October, six died. In Xo- 
vember, three ; and in December, eight. They were 
all two and three years old. 



80 THE MULE. 

On the Ist of May, 1865, we had on hand four thou- 
sand and twelve head, and received, during the same 
month, seven thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight. 
"We issued, during the same month, fifteen thousand 
five hundred and sixty-three, leaving us on hand, on the 
1st of June, six thousand four hundred and eighty-seven. 
During this month we received seven thousand nine 
hundred and fifty-one, and issued eleven thousand 
nine hundred and fifteen. Our mules during these 
months were sent out to be herded, and the total num- 
ber of deaths during the time was twenty-four. But 
two of them were over four years old. Now, it occurs 
to me that it would be a great saving to the Government 
not to purchase any mules under four years old. This 
statement of deaths at the corral is as nothing when 
compared with the number of deaths of young mules in 
the field. It is, in fact, well established that fully two- 
thirds of the deaths in the field are of young animals 
under three years of age. This waste of animal life 
carries with it an expense it would be difificult to esti- 
mate, but which a remedy might easily be found for. 

Now, it is well known that when a mule has reached 
the age of four years, you will have very little trouble 
with him, so far as sickness and disease are concerned. 
Besides, at the age of four he is able to work, and work 
well ; and he also understands better what you want 
him to do. 

The committee appointed to report on this subject 
say many mules have been lost by feeding on cut straw 
and corn meal. This is something entirely new to me ; 
and I am of opinion that more Government mules die 



THE MULE. 31 

because they do not get enough of this straw and meal. 
The same committee say, also, that in no instance have 
they known them to be inflicted with disease other than 
inflammation of the intestines, caused by exposure. I 
only wish that the members of that committee could have 
had access to the aflidavits in the Quartermaster- 
General's department — they would then have satisfied 
themselves that thousands of Government mules have 
died with almost every disease the horse is subject to. 
And I do not see why they should not be liable to the 
same diseases, since they derive life and animation from 
the horse. The mule that breeds closest after the jack, 
and is marked like him, is the hardiest, can stand fa- 
tigue the best, and is less liable to those diseases common 
to the horse ; while those which breed close after the 
mare, and have no marks of the jack about them, are 
liable to all of them. 

In the beginning of this chapter I spoke of the color 
of mules. I will, in closing, make a few more remarks 
on that subject, which may interest the reader. "We 
have now at work three dun-colored mules, that were 
transferred to the Army of the Potomac in 1862, and 
that went through all the campaigns of that army, and 
were transferred back to us in June, 1865. They had 
been steadily at work, and yet were in good condition, 
hardy, and bright, when they were turned in. These 
mules have a black stripe across their shoulders, down 
thoir backs, and are what is called " dark-colored duns." 
We also have the only full team that has gone through 
all the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac. It 
was fitted up at Annapolis, Md., in September, 1861, 



32 THE MULE. 

under Captain Sautelle, A. Q. M. They ^are now in 
fine condition, and equal to any thing we have in the 
corral. The leaders are very fine animals. They are 
fourteen hands high, one weighing eight h.undi'ed, and 
the other eight hundred and forty-five pounds. One of 
the middle leaders weighs nine hundred, the other nine 
hundred and forty-seven pounds, and fourteen hands 
and a half hiffh. 



CHAPTEE lY. 



DISEASES MULES ARE LIABLE TO. ^WHAT HE CAN DEAW, 

ETC., ETC. 

The committee also say that the mule is a more 
steady animal in his draft than the horse. I think this 
the greatest mistake the committee has made. You 
have only to observe the manner in which a dray or 
heavily-loaded wagon will toss a mule about, and the 
way he will toss himself around on the road, to be satis- 
fied that the committee have formed an erroneous 
opinion on that point. In starting with a load, the 
mule, in many cases, works with his feet as if they were 
set on a pivot, and hence does not take so firm a hold 
of the ground as the horse does. I have never yet seen 
a mule in a dray or cart that could keep it from jolting 
him round. In the first place, he has not the power to 
steady a dray ; and, in the second place, they never can 
be taught to do it. In fine, they have not the formation 
to handle a dray or cart. What, then, becomes of the 
idea that they are as steady in drays or teams as the 
horse. 

The committee also say that mules are not subject 
to such ailments as horses — spavin, glanders, ringbone, 
and bots. If I had the committee here, I would show 
its members that every other mule in the quartermasters' 
departmen'-, over fifteen and a luilf hands high, is either 



84 THE MULE, 

Spavined, ringboned, or in some way injured by the 
above-named diseases. The mule may not be so liable 
to spavin as the horse, but he has ringbone just the 
same. I cannot, for the life of me, see how the com- 
mittee could have fallen into this error. There is this, 
however, to be taken into consideration : the mule is not 
of so sensitive a nature as the horse, and will bear pain 
without showing it in lameness. The close observer, 
however, can easily detect it. One reason why they do 
not show spavin and ringbone so much as the horse, is 
because our blacksmiths do not cut their heels as low as 
they do a horse's, and consequently that part of the foot 
is not made to work so hard. If you believe a mule 
has a ringbone, and yet is not lame, just cut his heel 
down low, and give him a few good pulls in a muddy 
place, and he will soon develop to you both lameness 
and ringbone. Cut his toes down and leave his heels 
high, and he will not be apt to go lame with it. 

The committee also say that a Mr. Elliott, of the 
Patuxent Furnaces, says they hardly ever had a mule 
die of disease. This is a strange statement; for the 
poorest teams I ever saw, and the very worst bred 
stock, were on the Patuxent Eiver, through the southern 
part of Maryland, and at the markets in Washington. 
City. It is pitiable to see, as you can on market days, 
the shabby teams driven by the farmers of eastern and 
southern Maryland. A rnore broken-hearted, poverty- 
stricken, and dejected-looking set of teams can be seen 
nowhere else. The people of Maryland have raised 
good horses ; it is high time they waked up to the neces- 
sity, and even profit, of raising a better kind of mule. 



THE MULE. 35 

In regard to the draft power of mules, in com- 
parison with horses, there are various opinions ; and 
yet it is one which ought to be easily settled. I 
have tested mules to the very utmost of their strength, 
and it was very rare to find a pair that could draw thirty 
hundred weight a single year, without being used up com- 
pletely. ]Slow, it is well known that in the northern 
and western States you can find any number of pairs 
of horses that v/ill draw thirty-five and forty hun- 
dred weight anywhere. And they will keep doing it, 
day after day, and retain their condition. 

There was one great difficulty the Agricultural Com- 
mittee of South Carolina had to contend with, and it 
was this. At the time it had the subject of the mule 
under consideration, he was not used generally through- 
out the United States. I can easily understand, there- 
fore, that the committee obtained its knowledge 
from the very few persons who had them, and made 
the best report it could under the circumstances. 
Indeed, I firmly believe the report was ^vritten with the 
intention of giving correct information, but it failed 
entirely. In recommending any thing of this kind, 
great care should be taken not to lead the inexperienced 
astray, and to give only such facts as are obtained 
from thorough knowledge ; and no man should be 
accepted as authority in the care and treatment of 
animals, unless he has had long experience with them, 
and has made them a subject of study. 

A few words more on breaking the mule. Don't 
fight or abuse him. After you have harnessed him, 
and he proves to be refractory, keep your own temper, 



36 THE MULE. 

slack your reins, pnsli him round, backward and for- 
ward, not roughly ; and if he will not go, and do what 
you want, tie him to a post and let him stand there a 
day or so without food or water. Take care, also, that 
he does not lie down, and be careful to have a person 
to guard him, so that he does not foul in the harness. 
If he will not go, after a day or two of this sort of treat- 
ment, give him one or two more of it, and my word for 
it, he will come to his senses and do any thing you want 
from that time forward. Some persons assert that the 
mule is a very cunning animal; others assert that he is 
dull and stupid, and cannot be made to understand 
what you want. He is, 1 admit, what may be called a 
tricky animal ; but, for experiment sake, just play one 
or two tricks with him, and he will show yOu by his 
action that he understands them well. Indeed, he 
knows a great deal more than he generally gets credit 
for, and few animals are more capable of appreciating 
proper treatment. Like many other species of animal, 
there are scarcely two to be found of precisely the 
same temper and disposition, if we except the single 
vice of kicking, which they will all do, especially when 
well fed and rested. And we can excuse even this vice 
in consideration of the fact, that the mule is not a 
natural animal, but only an invention of man. Some 
persons are inclined to think that, when a mule is 
a kicker, he has not been properly broken. I doubt 
if you can break a mule so that he will not kick 
a stranger at sight, especially if he be under six years 
old. The only way to keep a mule from kicking yon 
is to handle it a great deal when young, and accustom 



THE MULE. 37 

it to the ways and actions of men. You must through 
kindness convince it that jou are not going to harm or 
ahuse it ; and you can do that best by taking hold of 
it in a gentle manner every time it appears to be 
frightened. Such treatment I have always found more 
effective than all the beating and abusing you can 
apply. 

There is another fault the mule has to contend 
against. It is the common belief among teamsters and 
others that he has less confidence in man than the horse 
has, and to improve this they almost invariably apply 
the whip. The reason for this want of confidence is 
readily found in the fact that mule colts are never 
handled with that degree of kindness and care that 
horse colts are. They are natm*ally more stubborn than 
the horse, and most of those persons who undertake to 
halter or harness them for the first time are even more 
stubborn in their disposition than the mule. They 
commence to break the animal by beating him in the 
most unmerciful manner, and that at once so excites the 
mule's stubbornness, that many of them, in this condi- 
tion, would not move an inch if you were to cut them 
to pieces. And let me say here that nothing should be 
so much avoided in breaking this animal as the whip. 
The young, unbroken mule cannot be made to under- 
stand what you are whipping him for. 

It is a habit with mule drivers in the army, many of 
whom are men without feeling for a dumb animal, to 
whip mules just to hear their whips crack, and to let 
others hear with what dexterity they can do it. It has a 
very bad effect on the animals, and some means sliould 



38 



THE MULE. 



"be applied to stop it. Army teamsters and stable-men 
seem to regard it as a virtue to be cruel to animals. 
Thej soon cultivate vicious habits, and a bad temper 
seems to grow up with their occupation. It naturally 
follows, then, that in the treatment of their animals 
they do just what they ought not to do. The Govern- 
ment has been a very severe sufferer by this ; and I 
contend that during a war it is just as necessary to have 
experienced and well trained teamsters as it is to have 
hardened and well trained soldiers. 

The mule is peculiar in his dislikes. Many of them, 
when first harnessed, so dislike a blind bridle that they 
will not work in it. When you find this, let him stand 
for say a day in the blinders, and then take them off, 
and in forty-nine cases out of iiFty he will go at once. 

It has been said that the mule never scares or runs 
away. This is not true. He is not so apt to get 
frightened and run away as the horse is. But any one 
who has had long experience with them in the army 
knows that they will both get frightened and run away. 
They do not, however, lose all their senses when they 
get frightened and run away, as the horse does. Bring 
a mule back after he has run away, and in most cases 
he will not want to do it again. A horse that has once 
run away, however, is never safe afterward. Indeed, 
in all the tens of thousands of mules that I have 
handled, I never yet found an habitual runaway. Their 
sluggish nature does not incline them to such tricks. 
If a team attempts to run away, one or two of them 
will fall down before they have gone far, and this will 
stop the remainder. Attempt to put one up to the 



THE MTLE. 39 

same speed vou would a horse, over a rough road, and 
jou will have performed wonders if he does not fall and 
break your bones. 

The mule, especially if large, cannot stand hard 
roads and pavements. His limbs are too small for his 
body, and they generally give out. You ^vill notice 
that all good judges of road and trotting horses like to 
see a good strong bone in the leg. This is actually 
necessary. The mule, you will notice, is very deficient 
in leg, and generally have poor muscle. And many of 
them are what is called cat-hammed. 

Worlcmg Condition of Mules. — Most persons, when 
they see a good, fat, slick mule, are apt to exclaim : 
" What a fine mule there is ! " He takes it for granted 
that because the animal is fat, tall, and heavy, he mnst 
be a good work animal. This, however, is no criterion 
to judge by. A mule, to be in good condition for 
work, should never be any fatter than what is known 
as good working condition. One of fourteen and a 
half hands high, to be in good working condition, 
should not weigh over nine hundred and fifty pounds. 
One of fifteen hands high should not weigh over one 
thousand pounds. If he does, his legs will in a very 
short time give out, and he will have to go to the 
hospital. In working a mule with too much flesh, it 
will produce curbs, spavin, ringbone, or crooked hocks. 
The muscles and tendons of their small legs are not 
capable of carrying a heavy weight of body for any 
length of time. He may not, as I have said before, 
show his blemishes in lameness, but it is only because 
he lacks that fin 3 feelino: common to the horse. 



40 



THE MTJLE. 



I have, singular as it may seem, known mules that 
have been spavined, curbed, and ringboned, and yet 
have been worked for years without exliibiting lame- 
ness. 

Avoid spotted, or dapple mules ; they are the very 
poorest animal you can get. They cannot stand hard 
work, and once they get diseased and begin to lose 
strength, there is no saving them. The Mexicans call 
them pintos, or painted mules. We call them calico 
Arabians or Chickasaws. They have generally bad eyes, 
which get very sore during the heat and dust of summer, 
when many of them go blind. Many of the snow- 
white mules are of the same description, and about as 
useless. Mules with the white muzzle, or, as some term 
it, white-nore white, and with white rings round the 
eyes, are also of but little account as work mules. 
They can stand no hardship of any kind. Govern- 
ment, at least, should never purchase them. In pur- 
chasing mules, you must look well to the age, form, 
height, eyes, size of bone and muscle, and disposition ; 
for these are of more importance than his color. Get 
these right and you will have a good animal. 

If any gentleman wants to purchase a mule for the 
saddle, let him get one bred closer after the mare than 
the jack. They are more docile, handle easier, and 
are more tractable, and will do what you want with 
less trouble than the other. If possible, also, get 
mare mules ; they are much more safe and trusty under 
the saddle, and less liable to get stubborn. They are 
also better than a horse mule for team purposes. In 
short, if I were purchasing mules for myself, I would 



THE MULE. 4:1 

give at least fifteen dollars more for mare mules than I 
wonld for horse. Thej are superior to the horse mule 
in every way. One reason is, that they possess all 
their natural faculties, while you deprive the horse of 
his by altering. 

The most disagreeable and unmanageable, and I was 
going to say useless, animal in the world, is a stud mule. 
They are no benefit to anybody, and yet they are more 
troublesome than any other animal. They rarely ever 
gat fat, and are always fretting ; and it is next to im- 
possible to keep them from breaking loose and getting 
at mares. Besides, they are exceedingly dangerous to 
have amongst horses. They will frequently fly at the 
horse, like a tiger, and bite, tear, and kick him to 
pieces. I have known them to shut their eyes, become 
furious, and dash over both man and beast to get at a 
mare. It is curious, also, that a white mare seems to 
have the greatest attractions for them. I have known 
a stud mule to take a fancy to a white mare, and it 
seemed impossible to keep him away from her. Males 
of all kinds, however, seem to have a peculiar fancy for 
white mares and horses, and when this attachment is 
once formed, it is almost impossible to separate them. 
If you want to drive a herd of five hundred mules any 
distance, turn a white or gray mare in among them for 
two or three days, and they will become so attached to 
her that you may turn them out, and they will follow 
her anywhere. Just let a man lead the mare, and with 
two men mounted you can manage the whole herd 
almost as well as if they were in a team. Another 
way to lead mules is, to put a bell on the mare's neck. 



42 THE MULE. 

The mules will listen for that bell like a lot of school 
children, and will follow its tinkling with the same 
instinct. 

Another curious tiling about the mule is this : You 
may hitch him up to-day for the first time, and he may 
become sullen and refuse to go a step for you. This 
may be very provoking, and perhaps excite your tem- 
per ; but do not let it, for ten chances to one, if you 
take him out of the harness to-day and put him in 
again to-morrow, that he will go right off, and do any 
thing you want him. It is best always to get a young 
mule well used to the harness before you try to work 
him in a team. When you get him so that he is not 
afraid of the harness, you may consider your mule two- 
thirds broke. 

I have seen it asserted that a team of mules was 
more easily handled than a team of horses. It is im- 
possible that this can be so, for the reason that you 
never can make a mule as bridle-wise as a horse. To 
further prove that this cannot be so, let any reinsman 
put as many mules together as there are horses in the 
" band wagon" of a show, or circus, and see what he 
can do with them. There is not a dnver living who 
can rein them with the same safety that he can a horse, 
and for the very reason, that whenever the mule finds 
that he has the advantage of you, he will keep it in 
Bi3ite of all you can do. 

3£ule Baising. — I never could understand why it was 
that almost every person, that raises stock, recommends 
big, ugly gollips of mares, for mule-breeding. The 
principle is certainh- a wrong one, as a little study of 



THE MULE. 43 

nature must show. To produce a good, well-propor- 
tioned mule, you must have a good, compact, and ser- 
viceable mare. It is just as necessary as in the crossing 
of any other animal. It certainly is more profitable 
to raise good animals than poor ones ; and you can- 
not raise good mules from bad mares, no matter what 
the jack is. You invariably see the bad mare in the 
flabby, long-legged mule. 

It has been held by some of our officers, that the 
mule was a better animal for Government service, be- 
cause he required less care and feed than the horse, and 
would go longer without water. This, again, is a grave 
mistake. The mule, if properly taken care of, requires 
nearly as much forage as the horse, and should be 
groomed and cared for just the same. I refer now to 
team animals. Such statements do a great deal of in- 
jury, inasmuch as they encourage the men who have 
charge of animals to neglect and abuse them. The 
teamster who hears his superior talk in this way will 
soon take advantage of it. Animals of all kinds, in a 
wild and natural state, have a way of keeping them- 
selves clean. If left wild, the mule would do it. But 
when man deprives them of the privileges by tying them 
up and domesticating them, he must assist them in the 
most natural way to keep themselves clean. And this 
assistance the animal appreciates to its fullest extent. 

IIov:) to Handle a Mule Colt. — Owners and raisers of 
mules should pay more attention to their habits when 
young. And I would give them this advice : When 
the colt is six months old, put a halter on him and let 
the strap hang loose. Let your strap be about four feet 



44 THE l^nJLE. 

long, so tliat it will drag on tlie ground. The animal 
will soon accustom himself to this ; and when he 
has, take up the end and lead him to the place where-.- 
you have been accustomed to feed him. This will: 
make him familiar with you, and increase his confi-- 
dence. Handle his ears at times, but don't squeeze 
them, for the ear is the most sensitive part of this ani- 
mal. As soon as he lets you handle his ears familiarly, 
put a loose bridle on him. Put it on and take it off 
frequently. In this way you will secure the colt's con- 
fidence, and he will retain it until you need him for 
work. 

Speaking of the sensitiveness of the mule's ear, a 
^scratch, or the slightest injury to it, will excite their 
sjtib^ornness and make them afraid of you. I have 
ktibwn a mule's ear to be scratched by rough handling, 
and for months afterward it was with the greatest 
difficulty you could bridle him. ITothing is more impor- 
tant than that you should bridle a young mule properly. 
I have found from experience that the best way is this : 
stand on the near side, of course ; take the top of the 
bridle in your right hand, and the bit in your left ; pass 
your arm gently over his eye until that part of the arm 
bends his ear down, then slip the bit into his mouth, and 
at the same time let your hand be working slowly with 
the bearings still on his head and neck, until you have 
arranged the head-stall. 

It would be a saving of thousands of dollars to the 
Government, if, in purchasing mules, it could get them 
all halter and bridle-broken. Stablemen, in the em- 
ploy of the Government, will not take the trouble to 



THE 3SIULE. 49 

sixty days. Eight Imndred pounds, Mr. Skinner, is a 
trying weight for a horse to drag any distance. "What, 
then, must we think of it on the back of a mule ? The 
officers of our quartermasters' department, who have 
been out on the plains, understand this matter perfectly. 
■ Any of these gentlemen will tell you that there is not 
a pack train of fifty mules in existence, that can pack, 
on an average for forty days, three hundred pounds to 
the animal. 

I will now give you the experience of some of the 
best mule packers in the country, in order to show that 
what has been written in regard to the mule's strength 
is calculated to mislead the reader. In 1856, William 
Anderson, a man whom I know well, packed from the 
City of Del J^orte to Chihuahua and Dm-ango, in Mexi- 
co, a distance of five hundred miles or thereabout. 
Anderson and a man of the name of Frank Eoberts 
had charge of the pack train. They had seventy-five 
mules, and used to pack boxes of dry goods, bales, and 
even barrels. They had two Mexican drivers, and 
travelled about fifteen miles a day, at most, though 
they took the very best of care of their animals. Kow, 
the very most it was possible for any mule in this train 
to get along with was two hundred and seventy-five 
pounds. More than this, they did not have over 
twenty-five mules out of the whole number that could 
pack two hundred and fifty pounds, the average weight 
to the whole train being a little less than two hundred 
pounds. To make this fifteen miles a day, they had to 
make two drives, letting the animals stop to feed when- 
ever they h:id made seven or eight miles. 
3 



50 THE MULE. 

In 1858, this same Anderson packed for the expedi- 
tion sent after the Snake Indians. His train consisted 
of some two hundred and fifty or three hundred mules. 
They packed from Cordelaine Mission to "Walla Walla, 
in Oregon. The animals were of a very superior 
kind, selected for the pui-pose of packing out of a very 
large lot. Some of the very best of these mules were 
packed with three hundred pounds, but at the end of 
two weeks gave out completely. 

In 1859, this same Anderson packed for a gentleman 
of the name of David Heese, living at the Dalles, in 
Portland, Oregon. His train consisted of fifty mules, 
in good average condition, many of them weighing nine 
hundred and fifty pounds, and from thirteen to fourteen 
hands high. His average packing was two hundred 
and fifty pounds. The distance was three hundred 
miles, and it occupied forty days in going and return- 
ing. Such was the severity of the labor that nearly 
two-thirds of the animals became poor, and their backs 
so sore as to be unfit for work. This trip was made 
from the Dalles, in Oregon, to Salmon Falls, on the 
Columbia River. Anderson asserts it, as the result of 
his experience, that, in packing fifty mules a distance 
of three hundred miles with two hundred and fifty 
pounds, the animals will be so reduced at the end of the 
journey as to require at least four weeks to bring them 
into condition again. This also conforms with my own 
experience. 

In 1857, there was started from Fort Laramie, 
iNebraska Territory, to go to Fort Bridger with salt, a 
train of forty mules. It was in the winter ; each mule 



THE MULE. 51 

was packed with one hundred and eighty pounds, as 
near as we could possibly estiroate, and the train was 
given in charge of a man of the name of Donovan. 
The weather and roads were bad, and the pack proved 
entirely too heavy. Donovan did all he could to get 
his train through, but was forced to leave more than 
two-thirds of it on the way. At that season of the 
year, when grass is poor and the weather bad, one hun- 
dred and forty or one hundred and fifty pounds is enough 
for any mule to pack. 

There were also, in 1857, regular pack trains run from 
Red Bluffs, on the Sacramento River, in California, to 
Yreka and Ourran River. Out of all the mules used 
in these trains, none were packed with over two hundred 
pounds. To sum up, packing never should be resorted 
to when there is any other means of transportation 
open. It is, beyond doubt, the most expensive means of 
transportation, even when the most experienced packers 
are employed. If, however, it were necessary for the 
Government to establish a system of packing, it would 
be a great saving to import Mexicans, accustomed to 
the work, to perform the labor, and Americans to take 
charge of the trains. Packing is a very laborious busi- 
ness, and very few Americans either care about doing 
it, or have the patience necessary to it. 



CHAPTEE y. 



PHYSICAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE MULE. 

1 NOW propose to saj something on the mule's limbs 
and feet. It will be observed that the mule has a 
jack's leg from the knee down, and in this part of 
the leg he is weak ; and with these he frequently has 
to carry a horse's body. It stands to reason, then, that 
if you feed him until he gets two or three hundred 
pounds of extra flesh on him, as many persons do, he 
will break down for want of leg-strength. Indeed, the 
mule is weakest where the horse is strongest. His feet, 
too, are a singular formation, differing very materially 
from those of the horse. The mule's feet grow very 
slow, and the grain or pores of the hoof are much 
closer and harder than those of the horse. It is not so 
liable, however, to break or crumble. And yet they 
are not so well adapted for work on macadamized or 
stony roads, and the more flesh you put on his body, 
after a reasonable weight, the more you add to the 
means of his destruction. 

Observe, for instance, a farmer's mule, or a poor 
man's mule working in the city. These persons, with 
rare exceptions, feed their mules very little grain, and 
they are generally in low flesh. And yet they last a 



THE MULE. 53 

very long time, notwitlistanding the rongli treatment 
they get. "When you feed a mule, you must adjust the 
proportions of his body to the strength of his limbs and 
the kind of service he is required to perform. Expe- 
rience has taught me, that the less you feed a mule 
below what he will eat clean, just that amount of value 
and life is kept out of him. 

In relation to feeding animals. Some persons boast 
of having horses and mules that eat but little, and are 
therefore easily kept. IS'ow, when I want to get a 
horse or a mule, these small eaters are the last ones 
I would think of purchasing. In nine cases out often, 
you will find such animals out of condition. "When I 
find animals in the Government's possession, that cannot 
eat the amount necessary to sustain them and give 
them proper strength, I invariably throw them out, to be 
nursed until they will eat their rations. Animals, to 
be kept in good condition, and fit for proper service, 
should eat their ten and twelve quarts of grain per 
head per day, with hay in proportion — say, twelve 
pounds. 

I wish here again to correct a popular error, that 
the mule does not eat, and requires much less food than 
the horse. My experience has been, that a mule, twelve 
hands high, and weighing eight hundred pounds, will 
eat and, indeed, requires just as much as a horse of 
similar dimensions. Give them similar work, keep 
them in a stable, or camp them out during the winter 
months, and the mule will eat more than the horse will 
or can. A mule, however, will eat almost any thing 
rather than starve. Straw, pine boards, the bark of 



54 THE ]^njLE. 

trees, grain sacks, pieces of old leather, do not come 
amiss with him when he is hungry. There were many 
instances, during the late war, where a team of mulefj 
were found, of a morning, standing over the remains of 
what had, the evening before, been a Government 
wagon. When two or more have been kept tied to a 
wagon, they have been known to eat each other's tail 
off to the bone. And yet the animal, thus deprived of 
his caudal appendage, did not evince much pain. 

In the South, many of the plantations are worked 
with mules, driven by negroes. The mule seems to 
understand and appreciate the negro ; and the negro 
has a sort of fellow-feeling for the mule. Both are 
sluggish and stubborn, and yet they get along well 
together. The mule, too, is well suited to plantation 
labor, and will outlast a horse at it. The soil is also 
light and sandy, and better suited to the mule's feet. A 
negro has not much sympathy for a work-horse, and in 
a short time will ruin him with abuse, whereas he will 
share his corn with the mule. 'Nor does the working 
of the soil on southern plantations overtax the power 
of the mule. 

T/ie Value of Harnessing properly , — In working any 
animal, and more especially the mule, it is both humane 
and economical to have him harnessed properly. Un- 
less he be, the animal cannot perform the labor he is 
capable of with ease and comfort. And you cannot 
watch too closely to see that every thing works in its 
right place. Begin with the bridle, and see that it 
does not chafe or cut him. The army blind-bridle, 
with the bit alteration attached, is the very best bridle 



THE MULE. 55 

that can be used on either horse or mule. Be careful, 
however, that the crown-piece is not attached too tight. 
Be careful, also, that it does not draw the sides of the 
animal's mouth up into wrinkles, for the bit, working 
against these, is sure to make the animal's mouth sore. 
The mule's mouth is a very difficult part to heal, and 
once it gets sore he becomes unfit for work. Your 
bridle should be fitted well to the mule's head before 
you attempt to work him in it. Leave your bearing- 
line slack, so as to allow the mule the privilege of 
learning to walk easy with harness on. It is too fre- 
quently the case, that the eyes of mules that are worked 
in the Government's service are injured by the blinds 
being allowed to work too close to the eyes. This is 
caused by the blind-stay being too tight, or perhaps not 
split far enough up between the eyes and ears. This 
stay should always be split high enough up to allow 
the blinds to stand at least one inch and a half from 
the eye. 

Another, and even more essential part of the har- 
ness is the collar. More mules are maimed and even 
ruined altogether by improperly fitting collars, than is 
generally believed by quartermasters. It requires 
more judgment to fit a collar properly on a mule than 
it does to fit any other part of the harness. Get your 
collar long enough to buckle the strap close up to the 
last hole. Then examine tlie bottom, and see that there 
be room enough between the mule's neck or wind-pipe 
to lay your open hand in easily. This will leave a 
space between the collar and tlie mule's neck of nearly 
two inches. Aside from the creased neck, mules' necks 



56 THE MULE. 

are nearly all alike in shape. They indeed vary as 
little in neck as they do in feet ; and wliat I say on the 
collar will apply to them all. The teamster has always 
the means in his own hands of remedying a bad fitting 
collar. If the animal does not work easy in it, if it 
]jinch him somewhere, let it remain in water over 
night, put it on the animal wet the next morning, and 
in a few minutes it '^vill take the exact formation of the 
animal's neck. See that it is properly fitted above and 
below to the hames, then the impression which the 
collar takes in a natural form will be superior to the 
best mechanical skill of the best harness-maker. 

There is another thing about collars, which, in my 
opinion, is very important. When you are pui'suing a 
journey with teams of mules, where hay and grain 
are scarce, the animals will naturally become poor, 
and their necks get thin and small. If once the 
collar becomes too large, and you have no way of 
exchanging it for a smaller one, of course yon must do 
the next best thing you can. Now, first take the collar 
off the animal, lay it on a level, and cut about one inch 
out of the centre. When you have done this, try it on 
the animal again; and if it still continues too large 
take a little more from each side of the centre until 
you get it right. In this way you can effect the 
remedy you need. 

In performing a long journey, the animals will, if 
driven hard, soon show you where the collar ought to 
be cut. They generally get sore on the outer part of 
the shoulder, and this on account of the muscle wasting 
away. Teamsters on the plains and in the Western 



THE MULE. 57 

Territories cut all the collars when starting on a trip. 
It takes less time afterward to fit them to the teams, 
and to harness and unharness. 

When you find out where the collar has injured the 
shoulder, cut it and take out enough of the stuffing 
to prevent the leather from touching the sore. In this 
way the animal will soon get sound-shouldered again. 
Let the part of the leather you cut hang loose, so that 
when you take the stuffing out you may put it back 
and prevent any more than is actually necessary from 
coming out. 

See that your hames fit well, for they are a matter 
of great importance in a mule's drawing. Unless your 
hames fit your collar well, you are sure to have trouble 
with your harness, and your mule will work badly. 
Some persons think, because a mule can be accustom- 
ed to work with almost any thing for a harness, that 
naoney is saved in letting him do it. This is a great 
mistake. You serve the best economy when you har- 
ness him well and make his working comfortable. 
Indeed, a mule can do more work with a bad-fitting 
collar and harness than a man can walk with a bad- 
fitting boot. Try your hames on, and draw them tight 
enough at the top of the mule's neck, so that they will 
not work or roll round. They should be tight enough 
to fit well without pinching the neck or shoulder, and, 
in fine, fit as neatly as a man's shirt-collar. 

Do not get the bulge part of your collar down too 
low. If you do, you interfere with the machinery that 
propels the mule's fore legs. Again, if you raise it too 
high, you at once interfere with his wind. There is an 



58 THE MULE. 

exact place for the bulge of tlie collar, and it is on the 
point of the mule's shoulder. Some persons use a pad 
made of sheepskin on the top of the collar. Take it 
off, for it does no good, and get a piece of thick leather, 
free from wrinkles, ten or twelve inches long and seven 
wide ; slit it crosswise an inch or so from each end, 
leaving about an inch in the centre. Fit this in, in 
place of the pad of sheepskin, and you will have a 
cheaper, more durable, and cooler neck-gear for the 
animal. You cannot keep a mule's neck in good con- 
dition with heating and quilted pads. Tlie same is true 
of padded saddles. I have perhaps ridden as much as 
any other man in the service, of my age, and yet I 
never could keep a horse's back in good condition with 
a padded saddle when I rode over twenty-five or thirty 
miles a day. 

There is another evil which ought to be remedied. 
I refer now to the throat-latch. Hundreds of mules 
are in a measure ruined by allowing the throat -latch to 
be worked too tight. A tight throat-latch invariably 
makes his head sore. Besides, it interferes with a part 
which, if it were not for, you would not have the mule — 
his wind. I have frequently known mules' heads so 
injured by the throat-latch that they would not allow 
you to bridle them, or indeed touch their heads. And 
to bridle a mule with a sore head requires a little more 
patience than nature generally supplies man with. 

Let a mule's ears alone. It is very common with 
teamsters and others, when they want to harness mules, 
to catch them by the ears, put twitches on their ears. 
Even blacksmiths, who certainly ought to know better, 



THE MULE. 59 

are in the habit of putting tongs and twitches in their 
ears when they shoe them. Now, against all these bar- 
barons and inhuman practices, I here, in the name 
of humanity, enter mj protest. The animal becomes 
almost worthless bj the injuries caused by such practices. 
There are extreme cases in which the twitch may be 
resorted to, but it should in all cases be applied to the 
nose, and only then when all milder means haye failed. 

But there is another, and much better, method of 
handling and oyercoming the vices of refractory mules. 
I refer to the lariat. Throw the noose over the head 
of the unruly mule, then draw him carefully up to a 
wagon, as if for the purpose of bridling him. In case 
he is extremely hard to bridle, or vicious, throw an 
additional lariat or rope over his head, fixing it pre- 
cisely as represented in the drawdng. By this method 
you can hold any mule. But even this method had bet 
ter be avoided unless where it is absolutely necessary. 

It is now August, 1866. We are working ^ve hun- 
dred and fifty-eight animals, from six o'clock in the 
morning until seven o'clock at night, and out of this 
number we have not got ten sore or galled animals. 
The reason is, because we do not use a single padded 
saddle or collar. Also, that the part of the harness 
that the heaviest strain comes on is kept as smooth and 
pliable as it is possible for it to be. Look well to your 
drawing-chains, too, and see that they are kept of an 
even length. If your collar gets gummy or dirty, 
don't scrape it with a knife ; wash it, and preserve the 
smooth surface. Your breeching, or wheel harness, is 
also another very important part ; see that it does not 



60 THE MTLE. 

cut and chafe tlie animal so as to wear the hair off, or 
injure the skin. If you get this too tight, it is impos- 
sible for the animal to stretch out and walk free. 
Besides obstructing the animal's gait, however, the 
straps wiU hold the collar and hames so tight to liis 
shoulder as to make him sore on the top of his neck. 
These straps should always be slack enough to allow 
the mule perfect freedom when at his best walk. 

And now I have a few words to say on Government 
wagons. Government wagons, as now made, can be 
used for other purposes besides the army. The large- 
sized Government wagon is, it has been proved, too 
heavy for four hoi-ses. The smaller sized one is nearer 
right ; but whenever you take an ordinary load on it 
(the smaller one), and have a rough country to move 
through, it T\'ill give out. It is too heavy for two 
horses and a light load, and yet not heavy enough to 
carry twenty-five hundred or three thousand pounds, a 
four-hoi*se load, when the roads are in any way bad. 
They do tolerably well about cities, established posts, 
and indeed anyAvhere where the roads are good, and 
they are not subject to much strain. Improvements on 
the Government wagon have been attempted, but the 
result has been failure. The more simple you can get 
such wagons, the better, and this is why the original 
yet stands as the best. There is, however, great differ- 
ence in the material used, and some makers make 
better wagons than others. The six and eight-mule 
wagon, the largest size used for road and field pur- 
poses, is, in my humble opinion, the very best adapted 
to the uses of our American army. 



THE MTTLE. Gl 

During the rebellion there were a great many 
wagons used that were not of the armj^ pattern. One 
of these, I remember, was called the Wheeling wagon, 
and used to a gTeat extent for light work, and did well. 
On this account many persons recommended them. I 
could not, and for this reason : they are too compli- 
cated, and they are much too light to carry the ordinary 
load of a six-mule team. At the end of the war it was 
shown that the army pattern wagon had been worked 
more, had been repaired less, and was in better condi- 
tion than any other wagon used. I refer now to those 
made in Philadelphia, by Wilson & Childs, or Wilson, 
Childs & Co. They are known in the army as the 
Wilson wagon. The very best place to test the dura- 
bility of a wagon is on the plains. Han it there, one 
summer, when there is but little wet weather, where 
there are all kinds of roads to travel on and loads to 
carry, and if it stands that it will stand any thing. The 
wagon -brake, instead of the lock- chain, is a great and 
very valuable improvement made during the war. 
Having a brake on the wagon saves the time and 
trouble of stopping at the top of every hill to lock the 
wheels, and again at the bottom to unlock them. Offi- 
cers of the army know how much trouble this used to 
cause, how it used to block up the roads, and delay the 
movements of troops impatient to get ahead. The lock- 
chain ground out the wagon tire in one spot. The 
brake saves that ; and it also saves the animal's neck 
from that bruising and chafing incident to the dead 
strain that was required when dragging the locked wheel. 

There is another difficulty that has been overcome by 



62 THE MULE. 

the wagon-brake. In stopping to lock wheels on the 
top of a hill, your train get into disorder. In most 
cases, when trains are moving on the road, there is a 
space of ten or fifteen feet between the wagons. Each 
team, then, will naturally close up that space as it comes 
to the place for halting to lock. Now, about the time 
the first teamster gets his wheel locked, the one in the 
rear of him is dismounting for the same purpose. This 
being repeated along the train, it is not difficult to see 
how the space must increase, and irregularity follow. 
The more wagons you have to lock with the drag-chain, 
the further you get the teams apart. When you have 
a large body of wagons moving together, it naturally 
follows that, with such a halt as this, the teams in the 
rear must make twenty-five halts, or stops, and starts, 
for every one that the head team makes. 

When the teamster driving the second team gets 
ready to lock, the first, or head team, starts up. This 
excites the mule of the second to do the same, and so 
all along the train. This irritates the teamster, and he 
is compelled to run up and catch the wheel-mules by 
the head, to make them stop, so that he can lock his 
wheels. In nine cases out of ten he will waste time in 
punishing his animals for what they do not understand. 
He never thinks for a moment that the mule is accus- 
tomed to start up when the wagon ahead of him moves, 
and supposes he is doing his duty. In many cases, 
when he had got his wheels locked, he had so excited 
his mules that they would run down the hill, cripple 
some of the men, break the wagon, cause a '' smash-up " 
in the train, and perhaps destroy the yevj rations and 



THE MULE. 63 

clothes on wliicii some poor soldier's life depended. We 
all know what delay and disaster have resulted from the 
roads being blocked up in this manner. The brake, 
thanks to the inventor, offers a remedy for all this. It 
also saves the neck and shoulders of every animal in the 
train ; it saves the feet of the wheelers ; it saves the 
harness ; it saves the lead and swing mules from being 
stopped so quick that they cut themselves ; and it saves 
the wheels at least twenty per cent. Those who have had 
wagons thrown over precipices, or labored and strug- 
gled in mud and water two and three hours at a time, 
can easily understand how time and trouble could have 
been saved if the wagon could have been locked in any 
way after it started over those places. The best brake, 
by all odds, is that which fastens with a lever chain to 
the brake-bar. I do not like those which attach with a 
rope, and for the reason that the lazy teamster can sit 
on the saddle-mule and lock and unlock, while, with 
the chain and lever, he must get off. In this way he 
relieves the saddle-mule's back. 

We all know that, in ridiug mules down steep or long 
hills, you do much to stiffen them up and wear them 
out. 



CHAPTEK YI. 



SOMETHING MOKE ABOUT BREEDING MULES. 

Before I close this work, I desire to say sometliing 
more about breeding mules. It has long been a popu- 
lar error that to get a good mule colt you must breed 
from large mares. The average sized, compact mare, is 
by all odds the superior animal to breed mules from. 
Experience has satisfied me that very large mules are 
about as useless for army service as very large men are 
for troopers. You can get no great amount of service 
out of either. One is good at destroying rations ; the 
other at lowering haystacks and corn-bins. Of all the 
number we had in the army, I never saw six of these 
large, overgrown mules that were of much service. In- 
deed, I have yet to see the value in any animal that 
runs or rushes to an overgrowth. The same is true 
with man, beast, or vegetable. I will get the average 
size of either of them, and you wiU acknowledge the 
superiority. 

The only advantage these large mares may give to 
the mule is in the size of the feet and bone that they 
may impart. The heavier you can get the bone and 
feet, the better. And yet you can rarely get even this, 
and for the reason that I have before given, that the 



THE MULE. 65 

mare, in nineteen cases out of twenty, breeds close after 
the jack, more especially in the feet and legs. It makes 
little difference how yon cross mares and jacks, the re- 
sult is almost certain to be a horse's body, a jack's legs 
and feet, a jack's ears, and, in most cases, a jack's 
marks. 

l^ature has directed this crossing for the best, since 
the closer the mare breeds after the jack the better the 
mule. The highest marked mules, and the deepest of 
the different colors, I have invariably found to be the 
best. What is it, let us inquire, that makes the Mexi- 
can mule hardy, trim, robust, well-marked after the 
jack, and so serviceable ? It is nothing more nor less 
than breeding from sound, serviceable, compact, and 
spirited Mexican or mustang mares. You must, in 
fact, use the same judgment in crossing these animals 
as you would if you wanted to produce a good race or 
trotting horse. 

We are told, in Mason and Skinner's Stud Book, that 
in breeding mules the mares should be large barrelled, 
small limbed, with a moderate-sized head and a good 
forehead. This, it seems to me, will strike our officers 
as a very novel recommendation. The mule's limbs 
and feet are the identical parts you want as large as 
possible, as every one that has had much to do with 
the animal knows. You rarely find a mule that has 
legs as large as a horse. But the mule, from ha^-ing a 
horse's body, will fatten and fill up, and become just as 
heavy as the body of an average-sized horse. Having, 
then, to carry this extra amount of fat and flesh on the 
slender legs and feet of a jackass, you can easily see what 



66 THE MULE. 

tlie result must be. !N"o ; you will be perfectly safe iu 
getting your mule as large-legged as you can. And by 
all means let the mare you breed from have a good, 
sound, healthy block of a foot. Then the colt will 
stand some chance of inheriting a portion of it. It is 
natural that the larger you get his feet the steadier he 
will travel. Some persons will tell you that these 
small feet are natural, and are best adapted to the ani- 
mal. But they forget that the mule is not a natural 
animal, only an invention of man. Let your mare and 
jack be each of the average size, the jack well marked, 
and 'No. 1 of his kind, and I will take the product and 
wear out any other style of breed. Indeed, you have 
only to appeal to your better judgment to convince 
you as to what would result from putting a jack, seven 
or eight hands high, to a mare of sixteen or more. 

I have witnessed some curious results in mule breed- 
ing, and whicli it maj^ be well enough to mention here. 
I have seen frequent instances where one of the very 
best jacks in the country had been put to mares of good 
quality and spirit. Putting them to such contemptible 
animals seemed to degrade them, to destroy their 
natural will and temper. The result was a sort of bas- 
tard mule, a small-legged, small-footed, cowardly ani- 
mal, inheriting all the vices of the mule and none of 
the horse's virtues — the very meanest of his kind. 



CHAPTEK YII. 



ANCIENT HISTOKT OF THE MULE. 

The mule seems to have been used bj the ancients 
in a great variety of ways; bnt what should have 
prompted his production must for ever remain a mystery. 
That they early discovered his great usefulness in making 
long journeys, climbing mountains, and crossing deserts 
of burnings and, when subsistence and water were scarce, 
and horses would have perished, is well established. 
That he w^ould soon recover from the severe effects of 
these long and trying journeys must also have been of 
great value in their eyes. But however much they 
valued him for his usefulness, they seem not to have 
had the slightest veneration for him, as they had for 
some other animals. I am led to believe, then, that it 
was his great usefulness in crossing the sandy deserts 
that led to his production. It is a proof, also, that where 
the ass was at hand there also was the horse, or the 
mule could not have been produced. Any people witli 
sufficient knowledge to produce the mule would also 
have had sufficient knowledge to discover the difference 
between him and the horse, and would have given the 
preference to the horse in all service except that I have 
just described. And yet, in the early history of the 



68 THE MULE. 

world, we find men of rank, and even rulers, nsing them 
on state and similar occasions ; and this when it might 
have been supposed that the horse, being the nobler 
animal, would have made more display. 

The Scriptures tell us that Absalom, when he led 
the rebel hosts against his father David, rode on a mule, 
that he rode under an oak, and hung himself by the 
hair of his head. Then, again, we hear of the mule at 
the inauguration of King Solomon. It is but reasonable 
to suppose that the horse would have been used on that 
great occasion, had he been present. On the other hand, 
it is not reasonable to suppose that the ass, or any thing 
pertaining to him, was held in high esteem by a nation 
that believed they were commanded by God, through 
their prophet Moses, not to work the ox and the ass 
together. It must be inferred from this that the ass 
was not held in very high esteem, and that the prohibi- 
tion was for the purpose of not degrading the ox, he 
being of that family of which the perfect males were 
used for sacrifice. The ass, of course, was never allowed 
to appear on the sacred altar. And yet He who came 
to save our fallen race, and open the gates of heaven, 
and fulfil the words of the prophet, rode a female of 
this apparently degraded race of animals when He made 
his triumphal march into the city of the temple of the 
living God. 



THE MULE. 



69 



List of Mules Received^ Died, and Shot, at the Depot of Washing- 
ton, D. G.,from 1st February, 1863, to ^Ist July, 1866. 



Month. 


1868. 


1864. 


1865. 


1866. 


i, 

> 

1 


s 


o 
.a 


1 


5 


o 




5 


o 


.E 




i 


Jan... 








624 


14 


76 


3,677 


66 


226 


169 






Feb.... 


135 


96 


7 


829 


16 


62 


1,603 


84 


150 


34 


2 


1 


March. 


2,552 


150 


4 


448 


10 


64 


2,823 


77 


169 


13 






April.. 


2,906 


118 


61 


1,305 


15 


47 


6,102 


106 


223 


29 


1 






May. . . 


1,0S7 


56 


46 


2,440 


18 


52 


11,780 


68 


211 


20 


1 






June.. 


3,848 


120 


118 


4,410 


76 


48 


19,304 


178 


49 


2 








July.. 


1,731 


94 


335 


4,702 


74 


125 


13,398 


462 


68 


62 








Aug... 


5,250 


51 


159 


5,431 


88 


281 


1,275 


284 


23 










Sept... 


2,884 


72 


248 


1,198 


64 


176 


1,536 


3 


18 










Oct.... 


1,166 


36 


202 


1,468 


81 


134 


876 














Nov... 


2,934 


80 


204 


3,036 


35 


123 


252 


3 












Dec... 
Total.. 


2,a32 


14 

837 


113 
1,497 


3,923 


66 
557 


158 
1,296 


324 


4 

1,335 






4 






27,275 


29,414 


62,950 


1,137 


329 


1 



Date. 


Eeceived. 


Died. 


SnoT. 


1863 


27,275 

29,414 

62,950 

329 


837 

557 

1,835 

4 


1,497 
1,296 
1,137 

1 


1864 


1865 

1866 . . 


Total 


119,968 


2.733 


8,931 





TO THE MULE. 



PICTUKES OF SOME OF OUR MOST CELEBRATED ARMY 
MULES. 

I have had photographs taken of some of our mules. 
A number of these animals performed extraordinary 
service in connection with the Army of the Potomac 
and the Western Army. One of them, a remarkable 
animal, made the great circuit of Sherman's campaign, 
and has an historical interest. I propose to give you 
these illustrations according to their numbers. 

No. 1, then, is a very remarkable six-mule team. 
It was fitted out at Berryville, Maryland, early in the 
spring of 1861, under the directions of Captain Saw- 
telle, A. Q. M. They are all small, compact mules, 
and I had them photographed in order to show them 
together. The leaders and swing, or, as some call them, 
the middle leaders, have been worked steadily together 
in the same team since December 31, 1861. They 
have also been driven by the same driver, a colored 
man, of the name of Edward Wesley Williams. He 
was with Captain Sawtelle until the 1st of March, 
1862 ; was then transferred, with his team, to the City 
of Washington, and placed under a wagon-master of 
the name of Horn, who belonged to Harrisburg, Pa. 
Wesley took good care of his team, and was kept at 
constant work with it in Washington, until May 14, 
1862. He was then transferred, with his team, to a 
train that was ordered to join General McClellan at 
Fort Monroe. He then followed the fortunes of the 
Army of the Potomac up the Peninsula; was at the 
siege of Yorktown, the battle of Williamsburg, and in 



THE MULE. 71 

the swamps of the Chickahominj. He was also in the 
seven days' battles, and brought np at Harrison's Land- 
ing with the Army of the Potomac. He then drove his 
team back to Fort Monroe, where they were shipped, 
with the animals of the Army of the Potomac, for 
Washington. He was set to work as soon as he reached 
a landing, and participated in hauling ammunition at 
the second battle of Bull Run. He then followed the 
army to Antietam, and from that battle-field to Freder- 
icksburg, where he hauled ammunition during the ter- 
rible disaster under General Burnside. The team then 
belonged to a train of which John Dorny was wagon- 
master. When General Hooker took command of the 
army this team followed him through the Chancellor- 
ville and Chantilly fights. It also followed the 
Army of the Potomac until General Grant took com- 
mand, when the train it belonged to was sent to City 
Point. This brings us up to 1864. It was with 
the army in front of Petersburg, and, during that win- 
ter, the saddle mule was killed by the enemy's shot 
while the team was going for a load of wood. In short, 
they were worked every day until Kichmond was taken. 
In June, 1865, they were transferred back to the City 
of Washington. It is now August, 1866, and they are 
still working in the train, and make one of the very best 
teams we have. I refer now to the leaders and swing 
mules, as they are the only four that are together, and 
that followed the Army of the Potomac through all its 
campaigns. There is not a mule of the four that is 
over fourteen and a half hands high, and not one that 
weighs over nine hundred pounds. This team, I ought 



72 THE MULE. 

to add here, has frequently been without a bite of hay 
or grain for four or ^ve days, and nothing to eat but 
what they could pick up along the road. And there are 
instances when they have been twenty-four hours with- 
out a sup of water. The experienced eye will see that 
they have round, compact bodies,^ and stand well on 
their feet. 

'No. 2 is the leader of the team, and for light work on 
the prairies, packing, or any similar work, is a model 
mule. Indeed, she cannot be surpassed. Her bone and 
muscle is full, and she is not inclined to run to flesh. 

No. 3 is the off-leader of the same team. She is a 
good eater, tough, hardy, and a good worker, — in every 
way a first-class mule. I would advise persons pur- 
chasing mules to notice her form. She is a little sprung 
in the knees ; but this has in no way interfered with 
her working. This was occasioned by allowing the heels 
on her fore-feet to grow out too much. During, and for 
some time after, the second battle of Bull Run, the train 
to which she belonged was kept at very hard work. The 
shoes that were on her at that time, to use the driver's 
own language, were "put on to stay." Indeed, he 
informed me that they were on so long, that he con- 
cluded they had grown to the feet. And in this case, 
as in many others, for want of a little knowledge of the 
peculiarities of a mule's feet, and the injury that results 
from over-growth, the animal had to suffer, and was 
permanently injured. 

No. 4 is the off-swing, or middle-leader mule. She 
is perfectly sound, of good heiglit, a good eater, and a 
great worker. She is also well adapted for packing, 




N\ 



,1 / 






h 




'''iW#wii4'i''''^ 



'ff^pfl 



i 







' - '^ 








THE MULE. 73 

and a tolerably good rider. Her ears and eyes are of 
the very finest kind, and her whole head indicates intel- 
ligence. Her front parts are perfection itself. She is 
also remarkably kind. 

ISTo. 5 is the near swing mnle, or middle leader. She 
is what is called a mouse-color, and is the fattest mule 
in the team. She underwent the entire campaigns of 
the Army of the Potomac, and is to-day without a 
blemish, and capable of doing as much work as any 
mule in the pack. Her powers of endurance, as well as 
her ability to withstand starvation and abuse, are 
beyond description. I have had mules of her build 
with me in trains, in the Western Territories, that 
endured hardship and starvation to an extent almost 
incredible ; and yet they were remarkably kind when 
well treated, and would follow me like dogs, and, 
indeed, try to show me how much they could endure 
without flinching. 

Ko. 6 is an off- wheel mule, of ordinary quality. I 
had to take the spotted mules from the wheels of this 
team, as they were not equal to the work required of 
them, and got very sore in front. 

No. T is a spotted, or, as the Mexicans call them, a 
calico mule. He and his mate were sent to the Army 
of the Potomac about the time General Grant took 
command of it. They were worked as wheel 
mules in the team until 1866, when this one, like 
nearly all spotted animals, showed his weak parts by 
letting up in his fore-feet, which became contracted to 
such an extent that the surgeon had to cut them nearly 
off. We were compelled to let him go barefoot until 

4 



74 THE MULE. 

they grew out. This is one of the spotted mules I have 
referred to before. You never can rely on them. 

No. 8 is the mate of No. 7. His head, ears, and 
front shoulder indicate him to be of Canadian stock. 
His neck and front shoulder, as you will see, are fault- 
less. But on looking closely at his eyes you will find 
them to be sore, and running water continually. I 
have noticed that nearly all animals in the army that 
are marked in this way have weak and inflamed eyes. 
A farmer should never purchase them. 

No. 9 is a swing mule that has undergone a great 
deal of hardship. She is tolerably well formed but 
inclined to kick. She is also hard to keep in good 
condition, and unless great care is taken with her she 
would give out in the hind feet, where she now shows 
considerable fullness. When a mule's neck lacks the 
ordinary thickness there must be some direct cause for 
it, and you should set about finding out what it is. 
Lack of food is sometimes the cause. But in my 
opinion creased neck very frequently so afifects the 
passages to and from the head, that the organs that 
should work in depositing flesh, fat, or muscle become 
deranged, and the neck becomes weak and in a dis- 
ordered state. Purchasers would do well to discard 
these creased-neck mules. 

No. 10 is an animal of an entirely diflPerent character 
from No. 9. She is remarkably gentle and tractable, 
of good form, and great endurance, and will work in 
any way. She is fifteen hands and one inch high, 
vreighs ten hundred and fifty pounds, and is seven 
years old. This celebrated animal went through all 



THE MULE. 75 

of General Sherman's campaigns, and is as sound and 
active to-day as a four-year old. 

]^o. 11 is one of those peculiar animals I have 
described elsewhere. He is all bones and belly. His 
legs are long, and of little use as legs. He is five years 
old, sixteen and a half hands high, and weighs thirteen 
hundred and ninety pounds. One of his hind legs 
shows a thorough pin. His hocks are all out of shape, 
and his legs are stuck into his hoofs on nearly the same 
principle that you stick a post into the ground. The 
reason why his pastern-joints show so straight is, that 
the heels on the hind feet have been badly trimmed 
when shaving. They too have been permitted to grow 
too long, and thus he is thrown into the position you 
now see him. This mule belongs to a class that is 
raised to a considerable extent, and prized very highly 
in Pennsylvania. In the army they were of very little 
use except to devour forage. 

'No. 12 is what may be called a pack mule of the 
first class. He is seven years old, fifteen and a half 
hands high, and weighs eleven hundred and fifty-six 
pounds. This animal has endured almost incredible 
hardships. He is made for it, as you will readily see. 
He is what is called a portly mule, but is not inclined 
to run to belly unless over-fed and not worked. He 
has a remarkably kind disposition, is healthy, and a 
good feeder. This animal has but one evil to contend 
with. His off hind foot has grown too long, and plainly 
shows how much too far back it throws the pastern- 
joint. This is in a measure the eff'ect of bad shoeing. 
It is very rare to find a blacksmith who discovers this 



Y6 THE MTTLE. 

fact until it is too late. Now there is nothing more 
easy than to ruin a mule by letting his toes grow 
too long. Doctor L. H. Braley, chief veterinary sur- 
geon of the army, is now developing a plan for 
shoeing mules, which I consider the very best that has 
been suggested. His treatment of the foot when well, 
and how to keep it so ; and how to treat the foot by 
shoeing when it becomes injured, is the best that can 
be adopted. 

!No. 13 is a mule that has been worked in a two-mule 
train which has been in my charge for about a 
year. She was previously worked in a six-mule train, 
as the off- wheel mule. She is five years old, rising ; 
size, fifteen hands and three inches high, and weighs 
fourteen hundred and twenty-two pounds. She was 
received into the Government service at Wheeling, 
Virginia, and when shipped or transferred to this depot, 
with four hundred others, was but two years old, rising 
three. She was worked, at least a year or more, too 
young ; and to this cause I attribute certain injuries 
which I shall speak of hereafter. This mule, with two 
hundred others, was transferred to the Army of the Poto- 
mac, and went through its campaigns from 1864 up to the 
fall of Richmond. She is an excellent worker, and her 
neck, head, and fore shoulders are as fine as can be. 
Indeed, they are a perfect development of the horse. 
But her hips or flank joints are very deficient. Owing 
to her being worked too young, the muscles of the hind 
legs have given way, and they have become crooked. 
This is done frequently by the animal being placed as 
a wheeler when too young, and holding back under a 



THE MTJLE. 77 

heavy load. If you want to see how quick you can 
ruin young mules, place tliem in the wheels. 

No. 14 is the off- wheel mule of a six-mule team. I 
had this mule photographed for the purpose of showing 
the effects of hitching animals so short to the team that 
the swingle-tree will strike or rest on their hocks. I re- 
ferred to this great evil in another place. This mule 
is but six years old, sixteen hands high, and weighs 
nearly sixteen hundred pounds. Aside from the hocks, 
she is the best made and the best looking mule in the 
park; and is also a remarkably good worker. You 
will notice, however, that the caps of her hocks are so 
swollen and calloused by the action of the swingle-tree 
as to make them permanently disfigured. The position 
I have placed this mule in, as relates to the wagon 
wheel, is the proper position to put all wild, green, con- 
trary or stubborn mules in when they are hard to bridle. 

This is the severest use to which a lariat can be put 
on mule or horse. The person using it, however, should 
be careful to see that it sets well back to the shoulder 
of the animal. I refer now to the part of the loop that 
is around the neck. The end of the lariat should al- 
ways be held by a man, and not made fast to any part 
of the wagon, so that if the animal falls or throws him- 
self, you can slack up the lariat and save him from 
injury. Three applications of the buck will conquer 
them so thoroughly that you will have little trouble 
afterwards. Be careful to keep the lariat, in front, as 
high as the mule's breast ; and see also that they are 
pulled up close to the front wheel before pulling it 
throus^h the hind wheel. 



Y8 THE MULE. 

DISEASES COMMON TO THE MULE, AND HOW THEY SHOULD 
BE TREATED. 

The mule does not differ materially from the horse 
in the diseases he is afflicted with. He however suffers 
less from them, owing to lack of sensibility. It may 
be useful here to make a few remarks on the various 
diseases he is subject to, and to recommend a course of 
ti'eatment which I have practiced and seen practiced, 
and which I believe is the best that can be applied. 

DISTEMPER IN COLTS. 

This disease is peculiar to young mules. Its symp- 
toms develop with soreness and swelling of the glands 
of the throat, a cough, difficulty of swallowing, dis- 
charging at the nostril:^, and general prostration. If 
not properly treated it is surely fatal. 

Treatment : — Give light bran mashes, plenty of 
common salt, and keep the animal in a warm and dry 
stable. You need not clothe, for the mule, unlike the 
horse, is not used to clothing. If the swelling under 
the throat shows a disposition to ulcerate, which it 
generally does, do nothing to prevent it. Encourage 
the ulcer, and let it come to a head gradually, for this is 
the easiest and most natural way that the trouble, which 
at first seems to pervade the whole system, can be got 
rid of. When the ulcer appears soft enough to lance, 
do so, and be careful to avoid the glands and veins. 
Lance through the skin in the soft spot, which appears 
almost ready to break. If the throat is at any time so 



THE MULE. 79 

STVollen as to render swallowing difficult, give water 
frequently, about milk warm, with nourishing feed of 
oats, corn, or rye meal — the last is the best. If this 
treatment, which is very simple, be carefully carried 
out, few animals will fail to recover. 

CATARRH OR COLDS. 

This disease seldom attacks the mule. "We have had 
many thousands of them in camp, and out of the whole 
number, I do not recollect of a case where it either 
destroyed or disabled a single animal. In fact, it is a 
question with me whether mules wiU take cold when 
kept as the Government keeps them — camped out, or 
standing in sheds where the temperature is the same as 
outdoors. 

GLANDERS. 

This is one of the most destructive of diseases with 
which the horse family is afflicted, and one that has set 
the best veterinary skill of the world at defiance. A 
remedy for it has yet to be discovered. I have deemed 
it proper here, however, to carefully describe its symp- 
toms, and to recommend that all animals showing symp- 
toms of it be kept by themselves until their case be 
definitely ascertained. When you bave ascertained to 
a certainty that they are afflicted with the disease, de- 
stroy them as quick as possible. See, too, that the 
place where they have been kept is thoroughly cleansed 
and sprinkled with lime, for the disease is contagious, 
and the sliglitest particle of vii-iis will spread it anew. 



80 THE MULE. 

Fare J is but one stage of this terrible disease, but is not 
necessarily fatal while in this stage. It should, how- 
ever, be treated with great care and caution. Farcy 
can also be conveyed to others by inoculation. Any 
one who has had the field for observation the author has 
for the last four years, would become convinced that 
the recommendations I am about to make describe the 
only course to be taken with this contagious disease. 
The number of its victims under my observation were 
counted by thousands. All that can be done is to pre- 
vent, if possible, the disease taking place, and to destroy 
when ascertained to a certainty that the animal has 
contracted it. I would say here, however, that this sub- 
ject will soon be thoroughly handled in a work soon to be 
published by Doctor Braley, head veterinary surgeon 
of the army. He will undoubtedly throw some light 
on the subject that has not yet appeared in print. 

SYMPTOMS. 

First : — When it appears in a natural form, without 
the agency of contagion or inoculation, dryness of the 
skin, entire omission of insensible perspiration, starring 
of the coat. Sometimes slight discoloring can be ob- 
served about the forehead and lower part of the ears. 
Drowsiness, want of lustre in the eye, slight swelling on 
the inside of the hind legs, extending up to the bu-boa. 
This condition of things may continue for several days, 
and will be followed by enlargement between the legs. 
The inflammation incident to this may entirely subside, 
or it may continue to enlarge, and break out in ulcers 



THE MULE. 81 

on the lactiles of the lymphatic, which accompanies 
the large veins. In the last case it has appeared in the 
form of Farcy. This being the case, the countenance 
assumes a more cheerful look, and the animal otherwise 
shows signs of relief from the discharges of poisonous 
matter. If it remain in this state, death is not generally 
the result. If the system be toned up it will sometimes 
heal, and the animal will seem to be in a recovering 
state of health. Yet, from watching the symptoms and 
general health of the animal afterwards, you will be 
convinced that the disease is only checked, not eradi- 
cated. Acting in the system, it only waits a favorable 
opportunity to act as a secondary agent in colds, gene- 
ral debility, or exposure, when it will make its appear- 
ance and produce death. 

But in the first case, as shown by the swelling in the 
hind legs, if the swelling disappear, and general debility 
of the system continues ; if the eyes grow more drowsy, 
and discharge from the lower corners ; and if this is 
followed by discharge from the nostrils, slight swelling 
and hardening of the sub-maxillary glands, which are 
between the under jaws, then it is clearly developed 
glanders. All the glands in the body have now become 
involved or poisoned, and death must follow in the 
course of ten or fifteen days, as the constitution of the 
animal may be in a condition to combat the disease. 

If this disease be annoyed by inoculation from the 
fcwcy heads of farcied animals into suppurating sores 
on other animals, it will be very slow in its progress, 
especially if it attack the other in a region remote from 
the lymphatic. If in a saddle-gall, it will make sores 



82 THE MULE. 

very difficult to heal. If there is any such thing as 
checking the disease in its progress, it is in these three 
cases. 

I have observed that when it has been taken in a 
sore mouth it has followed down the cheek to the sub- 
maxillary gland, and ended in a clear case of glanders 
or farcy. There is another form in which this disease 
can be taken, and which is, of all others, the most 
treacherous and dangerous, yet never producing death 
without the agency of other diseases — always carrying 
with it the germs of infection, and ready to convey it to 
debilitated subjects and cause their death. The animal 
will still live himself, and show no sign of disease further 
than I am about to describe in the position. It is that 
which is taken in at the nostrils and attacks the sub- 
maxillary glands, which become enlarged and will 
remain so. When these become overloaded there will 
be a discharge at the nose. That being thrown off, it 
may be some time before any further discharge will be 
seen from the same source. In some cases, when the 
discharge is constant, this can be easily distinguished 
from gleet or ozena, from the healthy and natural appear- 
ance of the membranes of the nose, which at first are 
pale, then become fiery red or purple. In gleet the 
discharges from the nostrils, as in ozena, are of a very light 
color. In glanders they are first of a deep yellow, then 
of a dirty gray — almost slate color. 

Mules affected with glanders of this kind, although it 
may seem hard from their otherwise healthy appear- 
ance, should be destroyed. They indeed carry with 
them the germs of infection and death, without any 



THE MULE. 83 

visible marks in their appearance to warn those who 
have the care of animals a^jainst their danger. 



TEETHING. 

As mules seldom change hands to any great extent 
until two or three years old, it is not deemed necessary 
here to say any thing of their age nntil they have 
reached two years, so as to give the inexperienced a 
wider scope. The mule's mouth undergoes exactly the 
same changes as the horse's. Between the ages of two 
and three these changes begin to take place in the 
mule's mouth. The front incisor teeth, two above and 
two below, are replaced by the horse for permanent 
teeth. These teeth are larger than the others, have two 
grooves in the outer converse surface, and the mark is 
long, narrow, deep, and black. ]N^ot having attained 
their full growth, they are somewhat lower than the 
others, the mark in the two next nippers being nearly 
worn out, and is also wearing away in the corner 
nippers. 

A mule at three years old ought to have the central 
permanent nippers growing, the other two pairs uniting, 
six grinders in each jaw, above and below, the first and 
fifth level with the others, and the sixth protrudi- 
As the permanent nippers wear and continue to 
a narrow portion of the cone-shaped tooth is ^ 
the attrition ; and they look as if they b 
pressed. This is not so, however ; ^' 
gradually disappears as the pit is 






84 THE MULE. 

age of three and a half or four years the next pair of 
nippers will be changed, and the mouth at that time 
cannot be mistaken. The central nippers will have 
nearly attained their full growth, and a vacuity will be 
left where the second stood ; or, they will begin to peep 
above the gum, and the corner ones will be diminislied 
in breadth and worn down, the mark becoming small 
and faint. At this period also the second pair of grind- 
ers will be shed. At four years the central nippers will 
be fully developed, the sharp edges somewhat worn oiF, 
and the marks shorter, wider, and fainter. The next 
pair will be up, but they will be small, with the mark 
deep and extending quite across. Their comer nippers 
will be larger than the inside ones, yet smaller than 
they were, and flat, and nearly worn out. The sixth 
grinder will have risen to a level with the others ; and 
the tushes will begin to appear in the male animal. 
The female seldom has them, although the germ is 
always present in the jaw. At four years and a half, 
or between that and five, the last important change 
takes place in the mouth of the mule. The corner nip- 
pers are shed, and the permanent ones begin to appear. 
When the central nippers are considerably worn, and 
the next pair are showing marks of wear, the tush will 
have protruded, and will generally be a full half inch in 
height. Externally it has a rounded prominence, with 
a groove on either side, and is evidently hollow within. 
At six years old the mark on the central nippers is 
worn out. There will, however, still be a difference of 
color in the center of the tooth. The cement filling up 
the hole made by the dipping in of the enamel, will 



THE MULE. 85 

present a browner hue than the other part of the tooth. 
It will be surrounded by an edge of enamel, and there 
will remain a little depression in the center, and also a 
depression around the case of the enamel. But the 
deep hole in the center of the enamel, with the black- 
ened surface it presents, and the elevated edge of the 
enamel, will have disappeared. The mule may now be 
said to have a perfect mouth, all the teeth being pro- 
duced and fully grown. 

What I have said above must not be taken as a posi- 
tive guide in all cases, for mules' mouths are frequently 
torn, twisted, smashed, and knocked into all kinds of 
shapes by cruel treatment, and the inexperience, to use 
no harsher term, of those who have charge of them. 
Indeed, I have known cases of cruelty so severe that 
it were impossible to tell the age of the animal from his 
teeth. 

At -seven years old the mark, in the way in which I 
have described it, is worn out in the four central nip- 
pers, and is also fast wearing away in the corner teeth. 
I refer now to a natural mouth that has not been sub- 
jected to injuries. At eight years old the mark is gone 
from all the bottom nippers, and may be said to be 
quite out of the mouth. There is nothing remaining in 
the bottom nippers by which the age of the mule can 
be positively ascertained. The tushes are a poor guide 
at any time in the life of the animal to ascertain his 
age by ; they, more than any other of the teeth, being 
most exposed to the injui*ies I have referred to. From 
this time forward, the changes that take place in the 
teeth may bo of some assistance in forming an opinion; 



8G THE IMULE. 

but there are no marks in the teeth by which a year, 
more or less, can be positively ascertained. You can 
ascertain almost as much from the general appearance 
of the animal as from an examination of the mouth. 
The mule, if he be long-lived, has the same effect in 
changing his general appearance from youth to old age 
as is shown on the rest of the animal creation. 

DISEASES OF THE TEETH. 

There are few if any diseases to which the mule's 
teeth are subject, after the permanent teeth are de- 
veloped ; but during the time of their changes I have 
been led to believe that he sufiers more inconvenience, 
or at least as much as any other animal — not so much 
on account of the suffering that nature inflicts upon 
him, as through the inexperience and cruelty of those 
who are generally intrusted with his care. I will 
here speak first of lampass. The animal's mouth is 
made sore and sensitive by teething ; and this irritation 
and soreness is increased by the use of improper bits. 
As if this were not enough, resort is had to that barbar- 
ous and inhuman practice of burning out lampass. This 
I do, and always have protested against. If the gums 
are swollen from the cutting of teeth, which is about all 
the cause for their inflamed and enlarged appearance, 
a light stroke of a lancet or sharp knife over the gums, 
at a point where the teeth are forcing their way 
through, and a little regard to the animal's diet, will 
be all that is necessary. It must not be forgotten, that 
at this time tlie animal's mouth is too sore and sensitive 



THE MULE. 87 

to masticate hard food, such as corn. With the de- 
velopment of the teeth, however, the lampass will 
generally disappear. 



Mules are remarkable for having good eyes. Occa- 
sionally they become inflamed and sore. In such cases 
the application of cold water, and the removing of the 
cause, whether it be from chafing of the blinders, 
forcing the blood to the head through the influence of 
badly fitting collars, or any other cause known, is all 
I can recommend in their case. 

THE TONGUE. 

Mules suffer much from injury to the tongue, caused 
by the bad treatment of those who have charge of them, 
and also from sore mouth, produced in the same man- 
ner. The best thing for this is a light decoction of 
white-oak bark, applied with a sponge to the sore parts. 
Charcoal, mixed in water, and applied in the same 
manner, is good. Any quantity of this can be used, as 
it is not dangerous. If possible, give the animal nourish- 
ing gruels, or bran mashes ; and, above all, keep the bit 
out of the mouth until it is perfectly healed. 



This is a disease the mule more than all other animals 
is subject to. This is more particularly so with those 
broui^ht into the service of the Government unbroken. 



88 THE MULE. 

It will be very easily seen that the necessary course of 
training, halter-breaking, &c., will expose them to 
many of the causes of this disease. Aside from this, 
the inhuman treatment of teamsters, and others who 
liave charge of them, frequently produces it in its worst 
form. It begins with an ulcer or sore at the junction 
where the head and neck join ; and from its position, 
more than any other cause, is very difficult to heal. 
The first thing to be done, when the swelling appears, 
is to use hot fomentations. If these are not at hand, 
use cold water frequently. Keep the bridle and halter 
from the parts. In case inflammation cannot be abated, 
and ulceration takes place, the only means to effect a 
cure, with safety and certainty, is by the use of the 
seton. This should be applied only by a hand well 
skilled in the use of it. The person should also well 
understand the anatomy of the parts, as injuries com- 
mitted with the seton-needle, in those parts, are often 
more serious and more difficult of cure than the disease 
caused by the first injury. 



This is a disease the mule is more subject to than any 
other animal in Government use. And this, on account 
of his being used as a beast of burden by almost all 
nations and classes of people, and because he is the 
w^orst cared for. Fistula is the result of a bruise. Some 
animals have been known to produce it by rolling on 
stones and other hard substances. It generally makes 
i.s appearance first in the way of a rise or swelling 



THE IVrULE. «^ 

where the saddle has been allowed to press too hard on 
the withers, and especially when the animal has high 
and lean ones. As the animal becomes reduced in flesh, 
the withers, as a matter of course, are more exposed 
and appear higher, on account of the muscle wasting 
from each side of the back-bone. This, under the sad- 
dle, can be remedied to a great extent, by adding an ad- 
ditional fold to the saddle blanket, or in making the pad 
of the saddle high enough to keep it from the withers. 
In packing with the pack-saddle this is more difficult, 
as the weight is generally a dead, heavy substance, and 
as the animal steps low or high, the pack does the same. 
Much, however, might be done by care in packing, to 
prevent injury to the withers and bruising of the back- 
bone. When the withers begin to swell and inflamma- 
tion sets in, or a tumor begins to form, the whole may 
be driven away and the fistula scattered or avoided by 
frequent or almost constant applications of cold water — 
the same as is recommended in poll- evil. But if, in 
despite of this, the swelling should continue or become 
larger, warm fomentations, poultices, and stimulating 
embrocations should be applied, in order to bring the 
protuberance to its full formation as soon as possible. 
"When full, a seton should be passed, by a skillful hand, 
from the top to the bottom of the tumor, so that all the 
pus may have free access of escape. The incision 
should be kept free until all the matter has escaped and 
the wound shows signs of healing. The after treatment 
must be similar to that recommended in the case of 
poll -evil. The above treatment, if properly admin- 
istered, will in nearly all cases oi fidida effect a cure. 



90 THE MULE. 

COLLAE-GALLS. 

Sore necks, saddle-galls, and stilfasts, are a species 
of injury and sore, which are in many cases very diffi- 
cult of cure, especially saddle-galls on mules that have 
to be ridden every day. One of the best remedies for 
saddle gall is to heighten the saddle up as much as pos- 
sible, and bathe the back with cold water as often as 
an opportunity affords. In many cases this will drive 
the fever away and scatter the trouble that is about to 
take place. This, however, does not always scatter, for 
the trouble will often continue, a root forming in the 
center of what we call the saddle-gall. The edges of 
this will be clear, and the stilfast hold only by the 
root. I have had many cases of this kind occur 
with the mule, both on his back and neck, mostly 
caused on the latter part by the collar being too loose. 
And I have found but one way to effectually cure them. 
Some persons advise cutting, which I think is too -tedi- 
ous and painful to the animal. My advice is to take 
a pair of pincers, or forceps of any kind, and pull it out. 
This done, bathe frequently with cold water, and keep 
the collar or saddle as much free of the sore as possible. 
This will do more towards relieving the animal and 
healing the injury than all the medicine you can give. 
A little soothing oil, or grease free from salt, may be 
rubbed lightly on the parts as they begin to heal. This 
is a very simple but effective remedy. 



This is another trouble with which the mule is afflicted. 
Cut away the parts of the frog that seem to be destroyed, 



THE ]VnTLE. 91 

clean tlie parts well with castile-soap, and apply mu- 
riatic acid. If you have not this at hand, a little tar 
mixed with salt, and placed on oakum or tow, and ap- 
plied, will do nearly as well. Apply this every day, 
keeping the parts well dressed, and the feet according 

. to directions in shoeing, and the trouble will soon dis- 

. appear. 

CHEST FOUNDERS. 

Mules are not subject to this disease. Some persons 
assert that they are, but it is a mistake. These persons 
mistake for founder in the chest what is nothing more 
than a case of contraction of the feet. I have repeat- 
edly seen veteriuary surgeons connected with the army, 
on being asked what was the trouble with a mule, look 
wise, and declare the complaint chest founder, swelling 
of the shoulders, &c. I was inclined to put some faith 
in the wisdom of these gentlemen, until Doctor Braley, 
chief veterinary surgeon of the department of Washing- 
ton, produced the most convincing proofs that it was 
almost an impossibihty for these animals to become 
injured in the shoulder. "When mules become sore in 
front, look well to their feet, and in nine cases out of 
ten, you will iind the cause of the trouble there. In 
very many cases a good practical sheer can remove 
the trouble by proper paring and shoeing. 

BLEEDING. 

It was always a subject of inquiry with me, who 
originated the system of bleeding ; and why it was that 



l\ 



92 THE MULE. 

all kinds of doctors aii(J^hjsicians persist in taking tlie 
stream of life itself from the system in order to preserve 
life. In the case of General Washington, which I copy 
from the Indejpendent Chronicle of Boston, January 6, 
1800, the editor, using '^ James Craik, physician, and 
Elisha C. Dick, physician," as authority, states that a 
bleeder was procured in the neighborhood, who took 
from the General's arm from twelve to fourteen ounces 
of blood, in the morning ; and in the afternoon of the 
same day was bled copiously twice. More than that, 
it was agreed upon by these same enlightened doctors, 
to try the result of another blood-letting, by which 
thirty-two ounces more was drawn. And, wonderful 
as it may seem to the intelligent mind at this day, they 
state that all this was done without the slightest alle- 
viation of the disease. The world has become more wise 
now, and experience has shown how ridiculous this sys- 
tem of bleeding was. What is true in regard to the 
human system is also true in regard to the animal. 
There are some extreme cases in which I have no doubt 
moderate bleeding might render relief. But these cases 
are so few that it should only be suffered to be done by 
an experienced, careful, and skillful person. My advice 
is, avoid it in all cases where you can. 



The mule is quite subject to this complaint. It is 
wliat is commonly known as belly-ache. Over doses of 
cold water will produce it. There is nothing, however, 
Bo likely to produce it in the mule as changes of grain. 



THE MULE. 93 

Mustj corn will also produce it, and sliould never be 
given to animals. I recollect, in 1856, when I was in 
ISTew Mexico, at Fort Union, we had several mules die 
from eating what is termed Spanish or Mexican corn, a 
small blue and purplish grain. It was exceedingly 
hard and flinty, and, in fact, more like buckshot than 
grain. We fed about four quarts of this to the mule, 
at the first feed. The result was, they swelled up, 
began to pant, look round at their sides, sweat above 
the eyes and at the flanks. Then they commenced to 
roll, spring up suddenly, lie down again, roll and try to 
lie on their backs. Then they would spring up, and 
after standing a few seconds, fall down, and groan, and 
pant. At length they would resign themselves to what 
they apparently knew to be their fate, and die. And 
yet, singular as it may seem, the animal could be accus- 
tomed to this grain by judicious feeding at first. 

We did not know at that time what to give the ani- 
mal to relieve or cure him ; and the Government lost 
hundreds of valuable animals through our want of 
knowledge. Whenever these violent cases appear, get 
some common soap, make a strong suds and drench the 
mule with it. I have found in every case where I used 
it that the mule got well. It is the alkali in the soap 
that neutralizes the gases. There is another good 
receipt, and it is generally to be found in camp. Take 
two ounces of saleratus, put it into a pint of water, 
shake well, and then drencii with the same. Above 
all things, keep whisky and other stimulairts away, as 
they only serve to aggravate the disease. 



94: THE MULE. 



PHYSICKING. 



This is another of those imaginary cures resorted to 
by persons having charge of mules. Yery many of 
these persons honestly believe that it is necessary to 
clean the animal out every spring with large doses of 
poisonous and other truck. This, they say, ought to be 
given to loosen the hide, soften the hair, &c. In my 
opinion it does very little good. If his dung gets dry, 
and his hair hard and crispy, give him bran mashes 
mixed with his grain, and a teaspoonful of salt at each 
feed. If there is grass, let him graze a few hours every- 
day. This will do more towards softening his coat and 
loosening his bowels than any thing else. When real 
disease makes its appearance, it is time to use medi- 
cines ; but they should be applied by some one who 
thoroughly understands them. 

STRINGHALT. 

This sometimes occurs in the mule. It is a sudden, 
nervous, quick jerk of either or both of the hind legs. 
In the mule it frequently shows but little after being 
worked an hour or so. It is what I regard as unsound- 
ness, and a mule badly affected with it is generally of 
but little use. It is often the result of strains, caused 
by backing, pulling and twisting, and heavy falls. You 
can detect it in its slightest form by turning the animal 
short arourui to the right or to the left. Turn him in 
the track he stands in, as near as possible, and tlien 
back him. li' he has it, one of these three ways will 



THE MULE. 95 

develop its symptoms. There are a great many opin- 
ions as to the soundness or unsoundness of an animal 
afflicted with this complaint. If I had now a good 
animal afflicted with it, the pain caused to my feelings 
by looking at it would be a serious drawback. 



I have now under my charge several mules that are 
subject to this complaint. It does not really injure 
them for service, but it is very disagreeable to those 
having them in charge. It frequently requires from 
half an hour to two hours to get them rubbed so as the 
blood gets to its proper circulation, and to get them to 
walk without dragging their legs. In cases where 
they are attacked violently, they will appear to lose all 
use of their legs. I have known cases when a sudden 
stroke with a light piece of board, so as to cause a sur- 
prise, would drive it away. In other cases sudden 
application of the whip would have the same effect. 



It is generally believed that the mule does not inherit 
this disease. But this is not altogether true. Small, 
compact mules, bred after the jack, are indeed not 
subject to it. On the contrary, large mules, bred from 
large, coarse mares, are very frequently afflicted witli 
it. The author has under his charge at the present 
time quite a number of those kind of mules, in which 
this disease is visible. At times, when worked hard, 



96 THE MULS. 

they are sore and lan^e. The only thing to be recom- 
mended in this case is careful treatment, and as much 
rest at intervals as it is possible to give them. Hand 
rubbing and application of stimulant liniments, or tinc- 
ture of arnica, is about all that can be done. The old 
method of firing and blistering only puts the animal 
to torture and the owner to expense. A cure can never 
be efiected through it, and therefore should never be 
tried. 



These appear on the same kind of large, bony mules 
as referred to in cases of spavin, and are incurable. 
They can, however, be relieved by the same process as 
recommended in spavin. Relief can also be afforded 
by letting the heels of the affected feet grow down 
to considerable length, or shoeing with a high-heeled 
shoe, and thus taking the weight or strain off the 
injured parts. The only way to make the best use of 
an animal afflicted with this disease, is to abandon 
experiments to effect a cure, as they will only be 
attended with expense and disappointment. 

MANGE. 

Mules are subject to this disease when kept in large 
numbers, as in the army. This is peculiarly a cuticle 
disease, like the itch in the human system, and yields 
to the same course of treatment. A mixture of sul- 
phur and hog's lard, one pint of the latter to 
two of the former. Rub the animal all over, then 



THE illJLE. 97 

cover with a blanket. After standing two days, wash 
him clean with soft-soap and water. After this process 
has been gone through, keep the animal blanketed for 
a few days, as he will be liable to take cold. Feed 
with bran mashes, plenty of common salt, and water. 
This will relieve the bowels all that is necessary, and 
can scarcely fail of effecting a cure. Another method, 
but not so certain in its effect, is to make a decoction of 
tobacco, say about one pound of the stems to two gal- 
lons of water, boiled until the strength is extracted 
from the weed, and when cool enough, bathe the mule 
well with it from head to foot, let liim dry off, and 
do not curry him for a day or two. Then curry him 
well, and if the itching appear again, repeat the bath- 
ing two or three times, and it will produce a cure. 
The same treatment will apply in case of lice, which 
frequently occurs where mules are kept in large num- 
bers. Mercury should never be used in any form, 
internally or externally, on an animal so much expased 
as the mule. 

GREASE-HEEL. 

Clean the parts well vnth castile-soap and warm 
water. As soon as you have discovered the disease, 
stop wetting the legs, as that only aggravates it, and 
use ointment made from the following substances : 
Powdered charcoal, two ounces; lard or tallow, four 
ounces ; sulphur, two ounces. Mix them well together, 
then rub the ointment in well with your hand on the 
affected parts. If the above is not at hand, get gun- 



98 THE MULE. 

powder, some lard or tallow, in equal parts, and apply 
in the same manner. If the animal be poor, and his 
system need toning up, give him plenty of nourishing 
food, with bran mash mixed plentifully with the grain. 
Add a teaspoonful of salt two or three times a day, as 
it will aid in keeping the bowels open. If the stable 
bottoms, or floors, or yards are filthy, see that they are 
properly cleaned, as filthiness is one of the causes of 
this disease. The same treatment will apply to 
scratches, as they are the same disease in a difierent 
form. 

To avoid scratches and grease-heel during the winter, 
or indeed at any other season, the hair on the mule's 
heels should never be cut. E'or should the mud, in 
winter season, be washed off, but allowed to dry on the 
animal's legs, and then rubbed off with hay or straw. 
This washing, and cutting the hair off the legs, leave 
them without any protection, and is, in many cases, the 
cause of grease-heel and scratches. 

SHOES, SHOEING, AND THE FOOT. 

The foot, its diseases, and how to shoe it properly, 
is a subject much discussed among horsemen. I^early 
every farrier and blacksmith has a way of his own for 
curing diseased feet, and shoeing. 'No matter how 
absurd it may be, he will insist that it has merits 
superior to all others, and it would be next to impossible 
to convince him of his error. Skillful veterinarians 
now understand perfectly all the diseases peculiar to 
the foot, and the means of effecting a cure. They 



THE MULE. 99 

understand, also, what sort of shoe is needed for the 
feet of different animals. Latterly a number of shoes 
have been invented and patented, all professing to be 
exactly what is wanted to relieve and cure diseased feet 
of all kinds. One man has a shoe he calls " concave^'^ 
and says it will cure contraction, corns, thrush, quarter- 
crack, toe-crack, &c., &c. But when you come to ex- 
amine it closely, you will find it nothing more than a 
nicely dressed piece of iron, made almost in the shape of 
a half moon. After a fair trial, however, it will be 
found of no more virtue in curing diseases or relieving 
the animal than the ordinary shoe used by a country 
smithy. Another inventive genius springs up and 
asserts that he has discovered a shoe that will cure all 
sorts of diseased feet; and brings at least a bushel 
basket full of letters from persons he declares to be in- 
terested in the horse, confirming what he has said of 
the virtues of his shoe. But a short trial of this won- 
derful shoe only goes to show how little these persons 
understand the whole subject, and how easy a matter it 
is to procure letters recommending what they have 
invented. 

Another has a " specific method " for shoeing, which 
is to cut away the toe right in the center of the foot, 
cut away the bars on the inside of the foot, cut and 
clean away all around on the inside of the hoof, then to 
let the animal stand on a board floor, so that his feet 
would be in the position a saucer would represent with 
one piece broken out at the front and two at the back. 
This I consider the most inhuman method in the art 
of shoeino^. Turn this saucer upside down and see 



100 THE MULE. 

how little pressure it would bear, and you will have 
some idea of the cruelty of applying this " specifio 
method." Sometimes bar-shoes and other contrivances 
are used, to keep the inside of the foot from coming 
down. But why do this? Why not get at once a 
shoe adapted to the spreading of the foot. Tyrell's 
shoe for this purpose is the best I have yet seen. We 
have used it in the Government service for two years, 
and experience has taught me that it has advantages 
that ought not to be overlooked. But even this shoe 
may be used to disadvantage by ignorant hands. In- 
deed, in the hands of a blacksmith who prefers "his 
own way," some kinds of feet may be just as badly in- 
jured by it as others are benefited. The United States 
Army affords the largest field for gaining practical 
knowledge concerning the diseases, especially of the 
feet, with which horses and mules are afilicted. During 
the late war, when so little care was given to animals 
in the field, when they were injured in every con- 
ceivable manner, and by all sorts of accidents, the 
veterinary found a field for study such as has never 
been opened before. 

Experience has taught me, that common sense is one 
of the most essential things in the treatment of a horse's 
foot. You must remember that horses' feet differ as 
well as men's, and require different treatment, espe- 
cially in shoeing. You must shoe the foot according to 
its peculiarity and demands, not according to any 
specific " system of shoe." Give the ground surface 
a level bearing, let the frog come to the ground, and 
the weight of the mule rest on the frog as much as any 



THE MULE. 101 

otlier part of the foot. If it project beyond the shoe, 
so much the better. That is what it was made for, and 
to catch the weight on an elastic principle. iN^ever, 
under any circumstances, cut it away. Put two nails 
in the shoe on each side, and both forward of the 
quarters, and one in the toe, directly in front of the 
foot. Let those on the sides be an inch apart, then 
you will be sure not to cut and tear the foot. Let the 
nails and nail-holes be small, for they will then aid in 
saving the foot. It will still further aid in saving it by 
letting the nails run well up into the hoof, for that keeps 
the shoe steadier on the foot. The hoof is just as 
thick to within an inch of the top, and is generally 
sounder, and of a better substance, than it is at the 
bottom. Keep the first reason for shoeing apparent 
in your mind always — that you only shoe your mule 
because his feet will not stand the roads without it. 
And whenever you can, shoe him with a shoe exactly 
the shape of his foot. Some blacksmiths will insist on 
a shoe, and then cutting and shaj)ing the foot to it. 
The first or central surface of the hoof, made hard by 
the animal's own peculiar way of traveling, indicates 
the manner in which he should be shod. All the art in 
the world cannot improve this, for it is the model pre- 
pared by nature. Let the shoes be as light as possible, 
and without calks if it can be afforded, as the mule 
always travels unsteady on them. The Goodenough 
shoe is far superior to the old calked shoe, and will 
answer every purpose where holding is necessary. It is 
also good in mountainous countries, and there is no 
dano^er of the animal calkins: himself with it. I have 



102 THE sruLE. 

carefully observed the different effect of shoes, while 
with troops on the march. I accompanied the Seventh 
Infantry, in 1858, in its march to Cedar Yalley, in 
Utah, a distance of fourteen hundred miles, and noticed 
that scarcely a man who wore regulation shoes had a 
blister on his feet, while the civilians, who did not, were 
continually falling out, and dropping to the rear, from 
the effects of narrow and improper shoes and boots. 
The same is the case with the animal. The foot must 
have something flat and broad to bear on. The first 
care of those having charge of mules, should be to see 
that their feet are kept in as near a natural state as 
possible. Then, if all the laws of nature be observed, 
and strictly obeyed, the animal's feet will last as long, 
and be as sound in his domestic state as he would be in. 
a state of nature. 

The most ordinary observer will soon find that the 
outer portion or covering of the mule's foot possesses 
very little animal life, and has no sensibility, like the 
hair or covering of the body. Indeed, the foot of the 
horse and mule is a dense block of horn, and must 
therefore be influenced and governed by certain chemical 
laws, which control the elements that come in contact 
with it. Hence it was that the feet of these animals 
was made to bear on the hard ground, and to be wet 
naturally every time the horse drank. Drought and 
heat will contract and make hard and brittle the sub- 
stance of which the feet is composed ; while on the 
other hand cooling and moisture will expand it, and 
render it pliable and soft. IS'ature has provided every- 
thing necessary to preserve and protect this foot, while 



THE MULE. 103 

tlie animal is in a natural state ; bat wlien brougLt into 
domestic use, it requires the good sense of man, whose 
servant he is, to artificially employ those means which 
nature has provided, to keep it perfectly healthy. 

When, then, the foot is in a healthy state, wet it at 
least twice a day ; and do not be content with merely 
throwing cold water on the outside, for the foot takes 
in very little if any moisture through the wall. In short, 
it absorbs moisture most through the frog and sole, 
particularly in the region where the sole joins the wall. 
This, if covered by a tight shoe, closes the medium, and 
prevents the proper supply. Horses that are shod 
should be allowed to stand in moist places as much as 
possible. Use clay or loam floors, especially if the 
horse has to stand much of his time. Stone or brick is 
the next best, as the foot of the animal will absorb 
moisture from either of these. Dry pine planks are 
the very worst, because they attract moisture from the 
horse's foot. Where animals have to stand idle much 
of the time, keep their feet well stuffed with cow ma- 
nure at night. That is the best and cheapest preserva- 
tive of the feet that you can use. 

ADVICE TO BLACKSMITHS. 

Let me enjoin you, for humanity^s sake, that when 
you first undertake to shoe a young animal, you will 
not forget the value of kind treatment. Keep its head 
turned away from the glaring fire, the clinking anvil, 
&c., &c. Let the man whom he has been accustomed 
to, the groom or owner, stand at his head, and talk to 
him kindly. Yvhen you approach hi:n for the first 



104 THE MULE. 

time, let it be without those implements you are to use 
in his shoeing. Speak to him gently, then take up his 
foot. If he refuse to let you do this, let the person 
having him in charge do it. A young animal will 
allow this with a person he is accustomed to, when he 
will repel a stranger. By treating him kindly you can 
make him understand what is wanted; by abusing 
him you will only frighten him into obstinacy. When 
you have got the animal under perfect subjection, ex- 
amine the foot carefully, and you will find the heels, at 
the back part of the frog, entirely free from that mem- 
ber, which is soft and spongy. When the foot is down, 
resting on the ground, grasp the heels in your strong 
hand, press them inwards towards the frog, and you 
will immediately find that they will yield. You will 
then see that what yields so easily to the mere pressure 
of the hand will expand and spread out when the weight 
of the body is thrown on it. This should give you an 
idea of what you have to do in shoeing that foot, and 
your practical knowledge should stand you well in an 
argument with any of those '' learned professors," who 
declare the foot of the mule does not expand or contract. 
In truth it is one of its necessary conditions. After being 
a long time badly shod, nearly or all of this necessary 
principle of the foot will be lost. You should there- 
fore study to preserve it. And here let me give you 
what little aid experience has enabled me to do. You 
will observe the ground surface of the foot, no matter 
liow high the arch may be, to be at least half an inch 
w4de, and sometimes more than an inch, with the heels 
spread out at the outside quarter. Do not cut away 



THE MULE. 105 

this important brace. It is as necessary to the heel of 
the animal, to guard him against lateral motion, on 
which the whole of the above structure depends, as the 
toes are to the human being. Curve the outside of the 
shoe nearly to fit the foot, and you will find the inside 
heel a little straighter, especially if the animal be nar- 
row-breasted, and the feet stand close together. Nature 
has provided this safeguard to prevent its striking the 
opposite leg. After the shoe is prepared to fit the foot, 
as I have before described, rasp the bottom level — it 
will be found nearly so. Do not put a knife to the sole 
or the frog. The sole of the foot, remember, is its life, 
and the frog its defender. In punching the shoe, two 
nail-holes on a side, on a foot like this, are sufficient to 
hold on a shoe. Three may be used, if set in their 
proper places, without injury to the foot. Practice will 
teach you that any more nailing than this is unneces- 
sary. I have used two nails on a side on an animal 
with not the best of a foot, and very high action, and he 
has worn them entirely out without throwing either of 
them off. Previous to punching the shoe, observe the 
grain of the foot. It will be seen that the fibres of the 
hoof run from the top of the foot, or coronary border, 
towards the toe, in most feet, at an angle of about 
forty-five degrees. It will be plain, then, that if the 
nails are driven with the grain of the horn, they will 
drive much easier, and hold better, and be less liable 
to cut and crack the fibers. 

Another benefit can be derived from this process of 
nailing. When the foot comes to the ground, the nails 
act as a brace to keep the foot from slipping forward 



lOG THE MULE. 

off the shoe. This renders that very ingenious foot 
destroyer, the toe-clip, unnecessary. Then, in punching 
the shoe, hold the top of the pritchell toward the heel 
of the shoe, so as to get the hole in the shoe on an 
angle with the grain of the hoof. Punch the holes large 
enough, so that the nails will not bind in the shoe, nor 
require unnecessary hammering or bruising of the foot 
to get them up to their proper place. Prepare the nails 
well, point them thin and narrow ; and, as I have said 
before, use as small a nail as possible. 

"When you proceed to nail on the shoe, take a slight 
hold at the bottom, so as to be sure that the nail starts 
in the wall of the foot instead of the sole. Let it come 
out as high up as possible. You need not be afraid of 
pricking with nails set in this way, as the wall of the 
foot is as thick, until you get within half an inch of the 
top, as it is where you set the naiJ. ITails driven in this 
way injure the feet less, hold on longer, and are stronger 
than when driven in any other way. If you have any 
doubt of this, test it in this manner : when you take 
off an old shoe to set a new one, and cut the clinches 
(which should be done in all cases), you will find the 
old nail and the clinches not started up ; and in draw- 
ing the naiLout you will also find the foot not slipped 
or cracked ; and that the horn binds the nail until it is 
entirely drawn out. Indeed, I have known the hole to 
almost close as the nail left it. 

Set the two front nails well towards the toe, so as 
not to be more than two inches apart when measured 
across the bottom of the foot. Let the next two divide 
the distance from that to the heel, so as to leave from 



THE MULE. 107 

two to two and a lialf inches free of nails, as the 
form of the foot may allow. Lastly, before nailing 
on the shoe, and while it is cold on the anvil, strike 
the surface that conies next to the foot on the out- 
side, a few blows with the hammer, right across the 
heels, and see also that the outside of the heels is a 
shade lowest, so that the animal in throwing his weight 
upon them will spread out, and not pinch in his feet. 



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